Jon Rahm And Rory McIlroy Secure Success In Dubai

Jon Rahm secured his third win worldwide this season, as he claimed victory at the DP World Tour Championship after a thrilling final round at Jumeirah Golf Estates which saw him beat Tyrell Hatton and Alex Noren by two shots.

Rahm began the final round of the tournament one shot ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick and the Spaniard birdied the first three holes to cement himself at the top of the leaderboard where he remained for the rest of the day. 

The chasing pack weren’t giving Rahm much room, as a number of players started fast and kept up the momentum, especially when Hatton, Noren and Rory McIlroy entered the fray once again to push Rahm all the way.

“I cannot believe I just shot 12-under with how badly I hit it off the tee on the weekend. I was just able to manage really well and a lot of those times when I pitched out, my wedge game saved me,” said Rahm.

“On the greens on the weekend, I don't know what my stats were, but inside 10-feet, I was really, really solid and that's always going to carry you forward and any time I was in the fairway, my iron game felt great. So, I stayed aggressive and picked my battles and again, I think I shot about as low as I could have on the weekend to get this one.”

Rahm’s relentless grinding saw him get home at a 20-under tournament total, even though the former World No.1 produced a number of erratic shots which offered some classy escapes to get the job done and claim a hat-trick of wins, turning his season from an ‘off year’ to a ‘good year’.

“Hopefully people can stop telling me that it was a bad year. It's three wins worldwide, three wins in three different continents, yeah it wasn't a Major championship but it’s still a really good season.”

Although McIlroy wasn't able to clinch the DP World Tour Championship itself, his performance in the tournament enabled him to become Number one in the DP World Tour rankings for the fourth time in his career, seven years since the last achievement.

“It means a lot. It’s been seven years since I’ve last done it, obviously this is my fourth one but it's been a while. I've won three FedEx Cups since the last time I won, which was the race to Dubai back then,” stated McIlroy.

“But yeah, it does mean a lot. I was a model of consistency the whole way through the year, a lot of top finishes. I think my worst finish of the European Tour events I played this year was 12th at the start of the year in Abu Dhabi. So, just a really consistent season kept putting in good performances.”