The world No. 53 birdied two of the first four holes, McIlroy carding a bogey and a birdie over the same stretch to extend the 28-year-old’s lead to three strokes. However, he then found the water with a awful tee shot on the 17th.
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McIlroy, who picked up his fourth worldwide win and third European Tour victory of the year on Sunday, also earned a $1.875 million bonus as the victor of the Race to Dubai.
Luckily, everything worked out for him and he was crowned the No. 1 golfer on the European Tour, yet again.
Paul McGinley believes Rory McIlroy’s victory at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship was testament to his mental strength as well as his enormous golfing ability.
England’s Andy Sullivan has been tipped by Rory McIlroy as an “asset” to the European team if he qualifies to make his Ryder Cup debut next year. I got to the turn in three-under yet I wasn’t making up any ground. “It was definitely the best bogey of my career”.
His playing partner, Sullivan, began the day in command.
“You compare keeping my card to where I’ve finished on the Order of Merit (12th) it’s safe to say I just exceeded it a little bit”.
“It’s always going to be there until I get to put a Green Jacket on my back”.
After fighting the good fight and posting a final round of 68, Sullivan said he had given it everything, and was just beaten by a world-class player.
However, McIlroy made what he called the “best bogey of his life” to limit the damage to one shot, and secured the win with a par on the 18th. I saw his putt with not as much break as he thought and thankfully mine went in from 40, 50 feet or whatever it was, to give me that cushion. I am going to enjoyed a few weeks off now and get ready for next season.
He stands every chance of doing exactly that if he can reproduce the formidable form he did here – and throughout the year – in 2016, having won as many European Tour events as McIlroy over the last 12 months. “And I’m not saying that money’s not important”. I wanted to improve in certain areas of my game, and didn’t quite do that, but these things happen.
England’s Danny Willett finished tied for the fourth place at 13-under par 275.
Two strokes behind him have been Emiliano Grillo (seventy one) of Argentina, Byeong Hun An (seventy one) of South Korea, Italian Francesco Molinari (sixty eight), South African Charl Schwartzel (sixty nine) and the English duo of Matthew Flitzpatrick (70) and Willett (70), who shared the fourth spot.
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The 2015 DP World Tour Championship witnessed a record 65,280 people flocking to Jumeirah Golf Estates to enjoy what has become one of best loved sporting and social events on the calendar.
