He might have just claimed his second major championship but Rory McIlroy has revealed winning The Race to Dubai is the achievement that will truly put the icing on the cake of his 2012 season.
The 23-year-old Northern Irishman was in imperious form at Kiawah Island in South Carolina last weekend, a truly stunning performance giving him a record breaking eight shot victory in the USA PGA Championship, the final major of the 2012 season.
It mirrored McIlroy’s achievement in winning his first major title — the 2011 US Open Championship at Congressional Country Club in Maryland — which he also won by eight shots, and although he pushed Luke Donald hard for the remainder of that season, he could not quite catch the Englishman in The Race to Dubai at the end of the year.
Now McIlroy has set his sights on putting that right in the season’s finalé — the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates from Nov. 22-25 — and is in the perfect position to do just that. His victory at Kiawah Island saw him overtake Justin Rose and move to No. 1 in the Race with €2,813,962, some €437,334 clear of the Englishman, as well as back to No. 1 on the official world golf ranking.
“There are so many benefits to winning the US PGA Championship and going to the top of The Race to Dubai is definitely one of them,” said McIlroy.
“There is a lot of golf still to play this season and I think that once we get past The Ryder Cup then I will be able to really focus on the end of The European Tour season and trying to win The Race to Dubai and The Harry Vardon Trophy.
“That is something that every player wants to have on their CV at the end of their careers – it is a great reward and I don’t think there has been a single player who has won it who has not fully deserved to.
“It is the ultimate sign of consistency and performance over the course of a full year — I suppose a bit like a football team winning the league — you have to play well over a long period of time to win it — and I am certainly trying to achieve that.
“It would be an amazing way to end the season. I have been going to Dubai for many years now and I love playing there so to win The Race to Dubai would be the perfect way to end what has been a really great season for me.”
The Race to Dubai celebrates both the diversity and the shared passion for golf across the globe. From the curtain-raising Africa Open in January through to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, The 2012 European Tour International Schedule presents 11 months of enthralling tournament action featuring 46 tournaments in 24 destinations worldwide.
The 2012 DP World Tour Championship will feature the top 60 players in The Race to Dubai with a total prize fund of $8 million with $1,333,300 going to the winner. In addition, a bonus pool of $3,750,000 will be divided among t the leading 10 players at the conclusion of the DP World Tour Championship — the winner receiving $1 million.
Donald won the 2011 Race to Dubai to become the first player in history to officially win both the European and US PGA Tour money lists in the same season. Donald followed Germany’s Martin Kaymer (2010) and Lee Westwood (2009) as winner of The Race to Dubai.
Tickets for the DP World Tour Championship are available free of charge by registering at www.dpworldtourchampionship.com.
