‘This one’s for him’ - Rory McIlroy dedicates eighth Race to Dubai title to his father Gerry

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The inner steel finally cracked, as Rory McIlroy – who claimed Harry Vardon Trophy for topping the season-long DP World Tour order of merit – let his emotions come to the surface…

The inner steel finally cracked, as Rory McIlroy – who claimed a record-equalling eighth Harry Vardon Trophy for topping the season-long DP World Tour order of merit – let his emotions come to the surface in dedicating this latest addition to his own golfing legacy to his father, Gerry.

“This one’s for him,” said a tearful McIlroy, after revealing his father had undergone surgery in September and was recovering in hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, adding: “He’s recovering well, thankfully. But when I left to come here to the Middle East, I went up to Cleveland to see him before I went. He said to me, ‘Go win the Race to Dubai!’”

While Tyrrell Hatton put on a masterclass to win the Tour Championship at The Earth course, the Englishman finishing with a superb 66 for a total of 15-under-par 273, McIlroy’s solo runner-up finish five shots adrift was sufficient for him to leapfrog Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra in the order of merit standings at the death.

McIlroy’s eighth order of merit – and fifth in a row – enabled him to move alongside Colin Montgomerie and brought with it a desire to claim a ninth and stand alone in the coming seasons.

The emotion displayed by McIlroy in dedicating this one to his father had remained in check on a thrilling final day in Dubai, where the mathematical calculations changed repeatedly between the Northern Irishman and the Spaniard in projected standings with, incredibly, a decimal point (0.1) separating the two, to Chacarra’s advantage, coming into the closing stretch.

The decisive moment would come on the par-4 16th hole where McIlroy hit a gap wedge from 128 yards to inside 12 inches for a tap-in birdie. McIlroy’s move from second to first on the projected standings was confirmed as he walked off the green and caught the change on the giant TV screen alongside the green.

And, indeed, it all came down to the par-5 18th before the order of merit was decided with neither McIlroy – who hit a loose drive into the trees right and was forced to chip out…

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