DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Rory McIlroy’s stellar year ended in more drama Sunday when he eagled the final hole of regulation to force a playoff, but lost to Matt Fitzpatrick, who won the season-ending World Tour Championship for the third time.
The consolation for McIlroy? He won his fourth consecutive Race to Dubai title, was crowned European Player of the Year, and in addition to his Masters win, he won a Career Grand Slam, The Players Championship and his home Irish Open. McIlroy also helped Team Europe win the Away Rider Cup.
All of his big individual wins have come in the play-offs, but his latest victory proved to be just a little beyond the Northern Irishman after he hit his drive into a creek on the first 18th hole of the play-off and suffered a bogey. Fitzpatrick chipped to 3 feet and sank the par putt to add to his 2016 and 2020 wins and win the title again at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
“Obviously I don’t want to see how it ends, but obviously I’m happy,” Fitzpatrick said after clinching his first win in two years.
McIlroy drew the biggest cheer of the day when he hit a 15-foot eagle on the 18th to finish the round with a 5-under 67, tying him with Fitzpatrick (66) for a weekly total of 18 under. He also made the final eagle at the Irish Open in September to reach the playoffs, defeating Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren at the K Club.
“In typical Rory fashion, he did it again,” said Fitzpatrick, who was sitting in the scorer’s cabin watching the play out. He met McIlroy outside, shook his hand and hugged his Ryder Cup teammate.
They had similar results after the playoffs, with both teams finishing as winners.
This is McIlroy’s seventh Race to Dubai title, one ahead of the late Seve Ballesteros and one behind Colin Montgomerie’s record.
“It’s pretty cool because I never would have gotten this far in my dreams,” McIlroy said of speaking to Ballesteros’ wife Carmen before Sunday’s round.
“It looks like it’s within reach,” he added of catching Montgomery. “I want to be the winningest European in terms of the Order of Merit and races in the season. You know, I probably have a few more good years left, so hopefully I can catch up with him and surpass him.”
Nine players battled for the lead or a share of the lead on the Earth Course, and in the end Fitzpatrick made three birdies in the final five holes to overtake McIlroy and dominate European stars such as Tommy Fleetwood and Ludwig Oberg.
Fitzpatrick’s birdie putt from 6 feet on the 18th left him with a one-shot lead over Fleetwood (67), Oberg (66) and Rory Canter (67), and a two-shot lead over McIlroy, who was waiting in the 18th fairway knowing he needed to make an eagle.
He hit a fairway wood from about 230 yards to the right of the pin, got a good read on his partner Rasmus Niergaard Petersen, who was a few feet away, and sank the putt.
Nirgaard Petersen (68) made a birdie and joined the group in a tie for third place at 17 under.
Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open champion, got off to a slow start to the season but finished strong, finishing in the top 10 at the British Masters in August, the European Masters and the BMW PGA Championship in September, earning him a spot on the Ryder Cup team. He then scored 2.5 points in four games at Bethpage Black.
“For someone like me to turn things around in the summer and come into the Ryder Cup like I did, I feel like it’s hard to come out on top, all things considered,” Fitzpatrick said. “But watching me play today, it really feels like I didn’t hit a single bad shot all day. I’m so proud of the hard work everyone put in behind the scenes. Yeah, what a feeling.”
