Looking to defend his title with a fourth DP World Tour Championship this November, Worldwide Golf’s Tom Norton takes an in-depth look back at 15 years of the sensational Rory McIlroy rollercoaster at Dubai’s Jumeirah Golf Estates.
Cast your mind back, if you will, to November 2009. It is the inaugural DP World Tour Championship at the newly opened Jumeirah Golf Estates – boasting a track to rival the greatest in the world in the beautiful Greg Norman-designed ‘Earth’ course.
There is much chatter about a young Northern Irishman, who months earlier under the same, shimmering Dubai sun, had announced himself to the world, claiming his very first professional Tour victory. As the grinning teenage McIlroy held the Dubai Desert Classic trophy aloft, many knew they were in the presence of something special. Few, however, could predict just how significant these Middle Eastern sands would prove in the prodigious talent’s global ascent in golf over the next fifteen years. Having experienced this opening taste of glory (further bolstered by a second Tour accolade at the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth in May), McIlroy returned to Dubai that November with his eyes set on a new prize on a new course. His consistent form across the year had earned him a place at JGE’s end of season finale, but this tournament represented a different beast altogether.
This was the cream of the European Tour’s crop, vying for the opportunity – not just to claim the very first DP World Tour Championship, but (for a chosen few, at least) to top the maiden Race to Dubai Rankings, securing the coveted season crown. While McIlroy put on a stellar display that November weekend, carding a final 15-under par, he fell shy of eventual champion Lee Westwood’s near flawless performance. Still, a third place finish and an emphatic demonstration that this was a competitor who could battle with the best in a pressure-laden environment, meant the world was witnessing McIlroy’s inarguable transformation into a global star.
Ryder Cup debut
The following year would see the Holywood native put in a markedly impressive Ryder Cup debut, a first-ever (now iconic) PGA Tour victory and a T3 finish at The Open. But despite these high points, McIlroy talked at the end of the year of being ‘a little disappointed’ by his season. And, following a very respectable fifth-place finish at the DP World Tour Championship, spoke maturely about his learnings.
Well, learn he certainly did. In 2011, the 22-year-old broke through on golf’s most coveted stage – the Major Championship. Positively obliterating the field and finishing eight shots clear of second-placed Jason Day, McIlroy’s staggering 16-under at Congressional was the lowest 72-hole score in US Open history. His status now cemented amongst golf’s elite, McIlroy headed to the DP World Tour Championship later that year in close contention for the Race to Dubai top spot – teeing off on Thursday against then World No.1 and European rankings leader, Luke Donald.
McIlroy (then sitting at World No. 2) took first blood in the opening bout with his future Ryder Cup Captain, shooting a dazzling 30 on the back nine at the Earth course, giving him a six-shot lead over Donald on the first day. The Championship weekend, however, belonged to Spaniard Álvaro Quirós, with McIlroy fading over the next few days (with reports of a niggling virus and fatigue) and eventually finishing T11. Quirós was left to grab the headlines in sensational fashion that Sunday, with a monster eagle putt on the 18th to win and provide one of the DP World Tour Championship’s most iconic moments.
World Number 1
A year later, McIlroy touched down in Dubai as a force of nature. Number one in the world and back in the Major winner’s circle once again with his first PGA Championship win, Rory already had the Race to Dubai crown on his head, his top spot in the Rankings mathematically assured regardless of what happened at Jumeirah Golf Estates that weekend. But for McIlroy, this was about more than simply finishing the year strong or even claiming his first DP World Tour Championship. This was a chance to properly rubber stamp his dominance in the game. He started his weekend a picture of composure. The quiet confidence of a man who was exactly where he needed to be. By day two, McIlroy slowly began turning up the heat, finishing the round among the tournament frontrunners. Moving day and the already confirmed Race to Dubai Champion was in aggressive pin-seeking mode, and by close of play McIlroy had the lead firmly in his crosshairs.
That final Sunday on the Earth course in 2012 was golfing cinema. Fans expecting a two-way shootout between McIlroy and Luke Donald, had not factored in Justin Rose running riot, holing eight birdies and an eagle in his final round for a sensational course record of 62. McIlroy, perhaps feeling the nerves, opened with a faltering bogey on the first. Even his playing partner, a previously flawless Donald, succumbing to the pressure by three-putting on the third. An error marked the Englishman’s first bogey of the tournament – and incredibly his first in 103 holes on the Earth course.
As the shadows grew longer under the Dubai sun, Rose’s magnificent showing found him in the clubhouse with a daunting 21-under lead. And another bogey on the 13th for McIlroy would have had even the staunchest of his fans wondering if his season-ending procession was about to be spoiled.
But cometh the hour, cometh the man.
In what is still one of the finest career finishes, the Northern Irishman hit an astonishing five birdies in a row from 14-18, with a beautifully assured 10-foot putt on the last to best Rose by two shots and seal his first-ever DP World Tour Championship. Even with all McIlroy has achieved in the game since, this tournament and Race to Dubai victory remains one of the most defining of his career. It didn’t just show that this young man was a worthy champion but showcased that he was a true closer with the character and conviction to do what is required when the time called.
But such is the capricious nature of the game of golf, 2013 proved a turbulent time for the defending Race to Dubai and DP World Tour Champion. With his ranking slipping and no wins in 10 months over the course of the year, McIlroy had often cut a frustrated figure around the course. However, returning to Dubai that November, fans were treated to something much more akin to the Rory they had seen in years gone by. A bounce was back in his step and rhythm in his swing, as a middling opening score of 71 was followed by a 67,68 and 67, finishing the weekend tied in fifth place at 15-under, McIlroy’s best result of the year on the European Tour.
Heading back to Jumeirah Golf Estates at the season’s end in 2014, things could not have been more different than a year prior. Much like 2012, but with even more accolades under his belt, Rory returned to his beloved Earth course as world No1 and already anointed Race to Dubai winner. He’d won The Open for the first time, he’d won the PGA Championship again…many expected the DP World Tour Championship that year to be another feather in his gilded cap. But it wasn’t to be.
Epic battle with Stenson
Despite a strong opening round of 66, a few stutters over the weekend meant McIlroy finished T2, two shots behind Henrik Stenson, the perennially composed Swede impressively defending his DP World Tour Champion status for a consecutive year. While, of course, it was not quite the end-of season finale McIlroy would have liked, ending the year World No.1, a double Major winner, Race to Dubai champion and European Tour Player of the Year left none in doubt that Rory was roaring once again.
A couple of months later, McIlroy ushered in 2015 with another trophy in an Emirate he’d barely left – emerging victorious at the Dubai Desert Classic in February. This win would be one of numerous vintage performances over the next few months, before being struck with the kind of cruel twist of fate that afflicts almost all major athletes at some point, a debilitating injury.
Defying Setbacks
With less than 10 days to go before attempting to defend his Open title at St Andrews, a casual kickabout with friends ended in a total rupture of McIlroy’s ankle ligament. With a chunk of the season now out of the question, rest and rehab followed. But salvation came in the form of a special exemption for McIlroy to play in the Final Series of the Race to Dubai, despite not being able to meet the 13-event qualification standard. A fortunate break indeed from the DP World Tour, and one the Race to Dubai leader would take full advantage of.
This time, owing to his injury lay-off, unlike previous years, McIlroy would not be teeing it up at the Earth course already assured of the Race to Dubai crown. With Danny Willett breathing down his neck on the points board, McIlroy needed to win the DP World Tour Championship or at least finish ahead of the in-form Englishman to ensure his name was etched once again on the Harry Vardon Trophy. And winning of course, is exactly what McIlroy did. Despite being three shots adrift of overnight leader Andy Sullivan, a practically nerveless performance and self-confessed ‘best bogey of his career’ on the par-three 17th saw McIlroy card a superb 66, six under par for the day and 21-under for the tournament. It was enough to beat the battling Sullivan by a single shot and claim his second DP World Tour Championship and his third Race to Dubai in four years.
Another momentous victory, another mammoth statement. With such a setback in the summer and with his season’s aspirations already written off by some, McIlroy had showcased a side of his game the world had not seen before. A defiant and steely resilience to come back from the sort of physical adversity of which he’d never contended and still get the job done. European dominance now restored, as McIlroy held the DP World Tour Championship prize aloft on Earth’s 18th green, few could ever imagine it would be another nine years until this generational talent would get his hands on it once again. The next six years, the European golfing world would have to get used to a very unfamiliar sight, a DP World Tour Championship and Race to Dubai victor list absent of Rory McIlroy’s name.
Race to Dubai Glory
In 2016, a mix of injuries, missed cuts and inconsistent form meant the Northern Irishman was never really in the picture to retain his Race to Dubai crown and despite some solid golf at Jumeirah Golf Estates in pursuit of another Championship, he finished in a tie for 9th. Henrik Stenson proving too strong for the field and ending the season the European Tour Champion, with the exciting emerging talent of Matt Fitzpatrick taking the DP World Tour Championship spoils.
2017 was very much a year that – on the golf course at least – McIlroy would want to forget. Plagued by injury, he struggled for both form and victories. Highlights of a tie for seventh and fourth place at the Masters and The Open respectively, will have been of little consolation to a man of his immense standards. A winless period and dropping to sixth in the world rankings, in the last quarter of the year McIlroy’s ongoing rib and back issues prompted his taking the rest of the year off to recover properly. Naturally this would mean missing the DP World Tour finales, thus absent from the DP World Tour Championship, which in the last half decade had been both his sanctuary and glorious stage.
When McIlroy did return to Dubai in late 2018, he was back to winning ways, yet hadn’t recovered the commanding, unstoppable form of a couple of years prior. However, ahead of his first round on Earth that November weekend, it was his future position on the DP World Tour that was the topic of sporting and tabloid discussion, rather than his performances. Nevertheless, McIlroy seemed to shrug off this external distraction and open with a strong showing. Having reportedly fixed some driver setting issues he was having, his swing looked more comfortable than it had been in a long while. At the halfway point of the DP World Tour Championship weekend, he had posted two rounds of 69 and 67, putting him in solid position heading into moving day. He may have been out of the Race to Dubai, but with only one win all year to his name, the former World No. 1 still very much had a point to prove at a fixture that has historically meant so much to him.
This year it was not to be, though. He couldn’t sustain the momentum of his first two days and ended the tournament tied in a relatively lowly 20th place.
Rahm Takes The Spoils in 2019
A year later, despite no Majors, McIlroy had turned in one of the most consistent years of his career. Three PGA Tour wins for the now 30-year-old matched Brooks Koepka for the most on tour and was enough to secure the season-long FedEx Cup for the second time. Over on the DP World Tour, of the five frontrunners who could claim the Race to Dubai title in 2019, Rory was not one. An outcome McIlroy was nothing less sanguine about, conceding ahead of the weekend at Jumeirah Golf Estates that he simply had not played enough European events to be in with a shot. Nevertheless, he was justifiably happy with his golf over the year and more than motivated to claim another DP World Tour Championship before his year was out. Highlighting this determination beautifully, McIlroy’s opening round on Earth was a stunning 64 – his lowest career round in the tournament. His towering 290-yard approach on the 18th hole, landing a mere five-foot eagle putt from the pin, is still one of the greatest shots the course has seen. Even the man himself called it ‘probably the best’ he’d hit all year. Despite carding a 74 on Friday, his next round of 66 meant McIlroy’s tidy position near the top of the leaderboard was maintained heading into the deciding day.
Unfortunately, a man so accustomed to final day brilliance on the Earth course, McIlroy spun out of control. A bogey on the front nine and two in the final five holes put the brakes firmly on any title charge. His 12-under would be enough for a fourth-place finish, but five shots shy of the increasingly dominant Jon Rahm who took both the DP World Tour Championship and Race to Dubai crown.
Covid Disruption Halts Momentum
In 2020 the global. COVID pandemic meant elite sporting competition as we knew it became a markedly different event. Gone were the spectators (for the most part) and in their place odd new rules, restrictions and prohibitions as organisers tried to battle with the entirely unprecedented. Delayed until December, by the time the DP World Tour Championship rolled around, the disruption of the last few months and perhaps a prioritised focus on health and family in the wake of all that was happening, meant Rory’s familiar face was not in the field in Jumeirah Golf Estates that year. It was left to Matt Fitzpatrick to seize the advantage, taking home the famous baton trophy.
2021, with the sporting arena slowly returning to a slightly more familiar one, McIlroy came charging back to the UAE looking once more to become the first three-time winner of the DP World Tour Championship. Wins at the Wells Fargo and CJ Cup on the PGA Tour had been tempered by missing out on a podium place at the Olympics and an emotionally gruelling Ryder Cup loss where he finished with his lowest ever points tally. Still, by late Sunday of the tournament at Jumeirah Golf Estates, few could see past McIlroy getting his name on the gong once again. Especially with only a handful of holes to go and sitting on a two-shot lead. But a collapse came in the form of a disastrous three bogeys in his last four holes, opening the door for an electric Morikawa to move past McIlroy, Fitzpatrick and Alexander Bjork to claim both the DP World Tour Championship and the Race to Dubai crown with five birdies in his last seven holes.
McIlroy finished tied for sixth. A wounding result that left a viral social media impression as the player was pictured leaving the scorer’s hut with his shirt ripped apart in rage. Proof that you can never keep a good competitor down; McIlroy would finally claim Race to Dubai redemption in 2022. Topping the leaderboard by a whisker that November, he arrived in Dubai as one of seven players with a mathematical shot at finishing European No1.
While McIlroy’s rallying effort on the Earth course that weekend would not be enough to claim another DP World Tour Championship (that prize belonged, once again, to Jon Rahm) his well-earned and crucial fourth place tournament finish was enough to guarantee the Race to Dubai trophy. The achievement meant more than just another accolade earned for incredible consistency of performance. It confirmed McIlroy as only the second player in history to win the PGA Tour’s FedExCup and top DP World Tour (as it was now rebranded) trophy in the same season. While the Majors had eluded him for a while, this was a golfer still intent on building a legacy as one of the most accomplished to ever pick up a club.
A year on, Rory’s Dubai result was the same, but the context was a little different. By 2023’s DP World Tour Championship, two Rolex Series events wins and three top tens in Major championships meant McIlroy already had the Race to Dubai in the bag, a week before Jumeirah Golf Estates’ season-ending event started. A tie for 22nd in the DP World Tour Championship may have been not much to write home about, but another stunning European end-of season triumph put the 34-year-old third on the all-time list, just one short of the late Seve Ballesteros and three behind Colin Montgomerie.
A Point to Prove
And so, to last year. The 2024 DP World Tour Championship. Astonishingly, almost a decade since McIlroy had last claimed victory in Jumeirah Golf Estate’s hallmark event. From a DP World Tour perspective, the Northern Irishman went into the tournament as he had done so many before – with a commanding points lead at the top of Race to Dubai board.
Though for reasons both professional and personal, McIlroy would later describe 2024 as the most emotionally draining of his life. Despite the prominence of his position heading into the end-of-season finale in Dubai, he knew his year had been defined by certain high-profile misses more than anything else. Most memorably, an agonising capitulation in the US Open earlier that summer – where he seemed to snatch defeat from the jaws of certain victory. Suffice to say, the Race to Dubai leader will have felt he had a point to prove that November weekend. Even though a tournament win late on that Sunday afternoon was not needed for the season-rankings crown, for McIlroy, and the DP World Tour Championship that had evaded him for nine years, it was necessary.
He completed his weekend masterclass with a final round of 69, enough to beat Rasmus Hojgaard by two shots and claim a glorious Dubai double. And in the golden light of the 18th green, when interviewed, the world saw just how much it meant to Rory McIlroy. Despite enjoying seasonal victory in the very same spot he had done so many times before over the last decade and a half, this was the most emotional the gathered JGE crowd had ever seen one of their favourite competitors. Teary-eyed, he talked of his immense pride at matching the great Seve Ballesteros in European Order of Merit titles. He touched on his near misses, the perception of his year and self-inflicted pressure. But, above all, was McIlroy’s clear contentment at the perseverance he had shown.
Grand Slam Champion .. at last
A perseverance, we would come to see months later in that fateful, final round of the Masters, that would be his making.
So what can we expect from Rory McIlroy this year at the DP World Tour Championship? Well, while he sits once more on top of the Race to Dubai standings, he returns as one of golf’s immortals, a Grand Slam winner, the culmination of a redemptive journey years in the making. And much like a handful of other competitors in the field, will also be coming off the back of *that* Ryder Cup victory. A triumph for the ages for the European team in the toughest of environments, but one that would have tested every one of them in ways they never had been before. How all these history-laden endeavours will have left this great champion, is anyone’s guess. Will he finish the job with aplomb? Or will there be another characteristic twist in this Earth course tale?
For well over a decade, Rory McIlroy’s relationship with the DP World Tour Championship has been one of golf’s most compelling stories. And much like all great love affairs, it’s been a tumultuous one. Clutch putts, choked drives. Seismic highs, shirt-ripping lows. Yet, if we’ve learned anything about golf where Rory McIlroy is concerned, in this part of the world or beyond, it’s always box-office. So, grab the popcorn, and we’ll see you at the first tee.
By Tom Norton
