Rory McIlroy won the Race to Dubai for the fourth year in a row with a thrilling finish at the DP World Tour Championship, just missing out on Matt Fitzpatrick.
On a great final day of the DP World Tour season, Jumeirah Golf Estates had many players challenging for victory, with Matt Fitzpatick breaking through the crowded leaderboard to shoot a bogey-free 66 and set a clubhouse target of 18 under.
McIlroy started with a shared lead and briefly lost a two-stroke advantage on the back nine, but made a dramatic 15-foot eagle on the final hole to force his Ryder Cup teammate into the extra hole.
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McIlroy makes sensational eagle putt to send DP World Tour Championship to playoff against Matt Fitzpatrick
The players returned to the par-5 18th for a playoff, with McIlroy finding water on his tee shot and a poor approach from Fitzpatrick causing both players to miss the green on their third shots.
The world No. 2 player jumped out to 20 feet from a greenside bunker but missed the par putt. Fitzpatrick had his ups and downs to cap off his first world title win since October 2023 and seal his third season finale.
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Fitzpatrick beats McIlroy on the playoff hole to win the DP World Tour Championship title
McIlroy’s runner-up place widened his lead in the season-long Race to Dubai standings and secured his seventh Harry Vardon Trophy victory, moving him closer to Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight medals.
Fellow Ryder Cup stars Ludvig Oberg and Tommy Fleetwood shared third place with Rory Kanter and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, with Rasmus Hegaard finishing seventh, three strokes ahead of Robert McIntyre, Angel Ayola and Haotong Li.
Fitzpatrick defeats McIlroy in final-day thriller
Sixteen players entered the final day within three strokes of the leader, with Li Hao Tong making four birdies in the first five holes and Canter’s fast start outscoring McIlroy, and both were in the lead before the overnight co-leaders teed off.
McIlroy quickly took the lead with a birdie-birdie start, then added another point from close range on the fifth and capitalized on the par-5 seventh as Kanter followed with four birdies in the first seven holes and three-putted the eighth for bogey to move ahead by two spots.
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McIlroy got off to a dream start in the final round of the DP World Tour Championship with birdies on both of his first two holes.
Justin Rose also briefly took the lead after playing three holes at 4 under on the front nine and making a 50-foot eagle on the par-3 sixth, but Fitzpatrick also had three birdies in five holes and hit a hole from a similar distance on the fourth.
McIlroy birdied the 11th and then birdied his next shot to completely eliminate the advantage, but Kanter made a long-distance birdie on the 14th to tie McIlroy at 17 under.
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Rory Canter makes an improbable birdie from over 35 feet to shorten McIlroy’s lead.
Fitzpatrick, playing in the penultimate group, took advantage of his chance at No. 14 and showed some movement in his next at-bat, hitting a 25-footer, while Oberg pitched in from the 12th green for a birdie at the end, setting his original clubhouse goal at 17 under.
McIlroy fell one place behind after hitting a well-timed bogey after falling into a fairway bunker off the 16th tee, and the Northern Irishman was briefly in fifth place when Kanter closed out with a final-round 67 and Fleetwood made five birdies on the back nine to leave four players tied for the lead.
Fitzpatrick broke away from the pack with a last 6-foot birdie, Neergaard-Petersen had an eagle and two birdies in a late scoring burst, and both he and playing partner McIlroy needed eagles on the final hole to extend the tournament.
Nygaard-Petersen narrowly missed out with a tap-in birdie to tie for second place, and McIlroy’s eagle sealed his fourth World Playoff place of the season, but he missed out on defending his title by a narrow margin.
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Watch Rasmus Niergaard-Petersen’s reaction to his incredible hole-out birdie in the final round in Dubai.
Tyrrell Hatton and Marco Penzi, the only two players who still have a chance of overtaking McIlroy for the Order of Merit, finished in a tie for 14th and 22nd respectively, with Penzi’s runner-up finish at the Race to Dubai allowing him to be among 10 players to secure a PGA Tour card and double membership for next season.
“This year has been the best year of my life,” Penge said. “Being able to win three times and be in this much competition has improved my game a lot. I’m very proud of myself and everyone involved who helped me get to where I am today.”
DP World Tour players who earned 2026 PGA Tour memberships through Race to Dubai rankings
McIlroy looks to European history after winning Race to Dubai
McIlroy capped off an impressive year with a runner-up finish, overtaking Seve Ballesteros for the medal of merit, and the 36-year-old is looking to make more history in the coming seasons.
“He (Ballesteros) means a lot to this tour and to the European Ryder Cup team,” McIlroy said. “We greatly value his spirit, his quotes and everything he gave to European golf. It was great to match him last year, but to surpass him this year was never in our wildest dreams to get to this point.”
“It (Montgomery’s record) seems to be within reach. I want to be the winningest European in terms of medals of merit and races in a season. I probably have a few more good years left, so hopefully I can catch up with him and surpass him.”
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Rory McIlroy reacts to losing to Matt Fitzpatrick in the DP World Tour Championship, but gets emotional when asked about surpassing Seve Ballesteros’ Medal of Merit record
Fitzpatrick, whose victory followed his Dubai titles in 2016 and 2020, added: “It (the win) means the world to me. I was struggling at the beginning of the year and I find it difficult to come back in the summer like I did and compete in the Ryder Cup like I did.”
“Watching how we played today, it really feels like we didn’t hit a single bad shot all day. I’m so proud of the effort everyone put in behind the scenes. What a feeling.”
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Matt Fitzpatrick reacts to DP World Tour Championship win, claims his win meant the world to him
What’s next?
The new DP World Tour season begins with the BMW Australian PGA Championship, which will be held at the Royal Queensland GC in Brisbane from November 27 to 30 and will be broadcast on Sky Sports.
McIlroy will return to action the following week at the Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne GC, followed in the same week by the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Gary Player CC in South Africa, with both events also broadcast live on Sky Sports Golf. Stream DP World Tour and more without a contract.
