Rory McIlroy held off Rasmus Højgaard to win the DP World Tour Championship by two strokes, sealing his sixth Race to Dubai crown in the process.
The pair produced another tight final-round encounter in the final Rolex Series event of 2024 at Jumeirah Golf Estates following their back-nine battle in the Amgen Irish Open in September.
It was Dane Højgaard who came out on top on that occasion, but McIlroy took the spoils this time, pulling clear with a magnificent approach shot to set up a tap-in birdie on the 16th hole and finishing his 2024 season with a closing birdie on the 18th.
McIlroy’s three-under-par final round of 69 clinched his third victory in in the DP World Tour Championship, having previously won the title in 2012 and 2015.
On both those occasions he also won the Race to Dubai crown and he finished the season as the DP World Tour’s Number One player for a sixth time overall, matching the feat of the legendary Seve Ballesteros, with Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight now in his sights.
South African Thriston Lawrence was the only player at the start of the week who could have prevented McIlroy from winning the Race to Dubai, but he finished the tournament in a share of 30th place on one under par, 14 shots behind McIlroy winning total of 15 under par 273.
Instead, McIlroy’s main challenge came in the tournament from Højgaard, who was attempting to follow in the footsteps of his twin brother Nicolai, who won the DP World Tour Championship 12 months ago.
After bogeying the first hole, Højgaard birdied the second and seventh holes and joined McIlroy at the top of the leaderboard when the former World Number One dropped shots on the ninth and 13th holes.
While McIlroy birdied two of the final three holes, Højgaard could not pick up any further shots on the way in, closing out his round of 71 with 11 straight pars to finish runner-up on 13 under par.
That was enough to move him past Lawrence into second place in the final Race to Dubai rankings though, meaning he claimed the first of the ten PGA TOUR cards on offer, having missed out by one spot last year.
The other nine players to secure dual membership on the PGA TOUR are: Lawrence (third on the Race to Dubai) England’s Paul Waring (fifth), Sweden’s Jesper Svensson (tenth), Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard (11th), Italy’s Matteo Manassero (12th), Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen (13th), France’s Antoine Rozner (15th), Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino (16th) and Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin (18th).
LIV stars Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquin Niemann finished top 10 in the standings, finishing Dubai at 6th Place 11-under and T7 9-under, respectively.
Tyrrell Hatton performed exemplary, never shooting a round over par (-5, -5, -1, -1). The Legion XIII standout was able to overcome all mistakes made during the tournament, despite his rash outburst which caused some controversy.
LIV fans will know and expect this type of behaviour from Hatton when things aren’t going his way but have come to endear themselves to him because of it.
Hatton, truly one of the best players in the game, is also one of the most colourful. His passion for the game is matched by few.
Torque captain Joaquin Niemann positioned himself for a chance to win at the end of Saturday, but shot 1-over par on Sunday, birdieing only once on the 2nd hole, finishing the tournament T7 (2-, -5, -3, +2).
Despite the Sunday performance, the end results speak for themselves, a top-10 finish on a very difficult course reminded everyone that Joaco is still one of the best young bright stars in golf.
Elsewhere, Cleeks star Adrian Meronk finished in 30th place with a final score of 1-under par.
The big Pole only scored 1-over par on both Friday and Saturday, taking himself out of contention for a win, but finishing solidly in the middle of the pack.
For McIlroy though, it was a fitting way to end the 2024 season during which he has won four times worldwide, including twice on the DP World Tour in Dubai, having also triumphed in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January.
The four-time Major Champion’s consistency this season is underlined by his record of eight top five finishes in 12 DP World Tour appearances in 2024, finishing runner four times, in the Dubai Invitational, US Open, Amgen Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship.
