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Rory McIlroy Inches Closer to History As Matt Fitzpatrick Wins DP World Tour Finale

McIlroy fell short of the DP World Tour Championship win after dramatically forcing a playoff, but claimed his seventh season-long Race to Dubai title, second-most of all time.

Max Schreiber

Matt Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy shake hands on the 18th green following the playoff at the 2025 DP World Tour Championship.
Matt Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy shake hands on the 18th green following the playoff at the 2025 DP World Tour Championship. / Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Seven. 

That’s how many times Rory McIlroy has won the DP World Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai title after capturing his fourth consecutive one on Sunday at the season-ending DPWT championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates to surpass Seve Ballesteros on the all-time list. 

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“I had a conversation with [Seve’s] wife, Carmen, before I went out to play today, and she told me how proud he would have been,” McIlroy said. “You know, I said this on this green last year, he means so much to this tour and to the European Ryder Cup team. We rally so much around his spirit and his quotes and everything he meant for European golf.

“To equal him last year was cool, but to surpass him this year, yeah, I didn’t get this far in my dreams, so it’s very cool.”

Yet, the day was bittersweet for McIlroy. 

The Northern Irishman lost the tournament itself, falling to Matt Fitzpatrick in a playoff. 

MORE: Final results, payouts from DP World Tour Championship

McIlroy began the day co-leading by one stroke. However, there were five players one back, including Fitzpatrick. 

Fitzpatrick seized the clubhouse lead at 18 under with a final-round 66. And by the time McIlroy reached the 72nd hole, the 36-year-old was two back. 

Then, “In typical Rory fashion,” Fitzpatrick said, McIlroy flushed a 5-wood 234 yards to 15 feet and rolled in the eagle putt to force a playoff. 

“Lucky to see [McIlroy’s final-round playing partner Rasmus Højgaard’s] putt before mine,” McIlroy said. “His hung out a little bit before it started to turn, so got a read from him. It was a great way to finish, making the playoff.”

But the fortune for McIlroy didn’t carry over. On the first extra hole, he splashed his tee shot and made bogey as Fitzpatrick parred for the victory. 

“The way that I played today, I feel like I really didn’t hit one bad shot all day,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’m so proud of myself, the effort that everyone puts in behind the scenes. Yeah, what a feeling.”

For Fitzpatrick, this completes a dramatic turnaround in the past year. The 2022 U.S. Open champion went nearly 11 months between 2024 and 2025 without a top 10, before finding his groove again around the time of the PGA Championship and eventually played his way back onto the European Ryder Cup team. 

With the win in Dubai, he has his first title since the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews in 2023. 

“Struggled at the start of this year, obviously,” the 31-year-old Englishman said, “and to turn it around in the summer like I did and have a Ryder Cup like I did, Ryder Cup in particular, feel like it’s hard to top given everything.”

McIlroy, meanwhile, didn’t end his monumental year—which included winning at Pebble Beach, the Players Championship, the Irish Open, a road Ryder Cup and, of course, completing the career Grand Slam at the Masters—empty-handed. 

Now, his focus shifts to Colin Montgomerie, who has a record eight Race to Dubai titles. 

“I want it, of course I do,” McIlroy said. “I caught up with Monty this week when he was here a couple days ago and I saw him. Look, it seems within touching distance now. I’d love to be the winningest European in terms of Order of Merits and season-long races.

“You know, I've probably got a few more good years left in me, and hopefully, I can catch him and surpass him.”

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Max Schreiber
MAX SCHREIBER

Max Schreiber is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, covering golf. Before joining SI in October 2024, the Mahwah, N.J., native, worked as an associate editor for the Golf Channel and wrote for RyderCup.com and FanSided. He is a multiplatform producer for Newsday and has a bachelor's in communications and journalism from Quinnipiac University. In his free time, you can find him doing anything regarding the Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Islanders.

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