Rory McIlroy's playoff loss doesn't detract from a remarkable season, capped off by his seventh Race to Dubai crown

One of the most important seasons in modern professional golf started in Dubai, and ended there, too.

Rory McIlroy first teed up in 2025 at the Dubai Desert Classic in January. What happened between that T-4 and a playoff loss at the DP World Tour Championship on Sunday will go down in the record books.

The Northern Irishman claimed PGA Tour victories at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Players Championship and the Masters. The last one made him the sixth winner of the career Grand Slam. In the fall, McIlroy turned his focus to the DP World Tour, where he triumphed at the Irish Open in September before playing a starring role (3-1-1) in Europe’s away victory at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage.

For one last time this season, McIlroy was in contention, this one in the DP World Tour season-finale. The 35-year-old was leading by two shots midway through the final day at Jumeirah Golf Estates, only to suffer two back-nine bogeys. That allowed Ryder Cup teammate Matt Fitzpatrick (66) to post the clubhouse lead at 18 under par.

Still, McIlroy faced a 25-foot eagle putt on the 72nd hole at Jumeirah’s Earth Course to force a playoff with a 67. As he had done at the Irish Open in September, he poured the eagle in the center.

“I got off to the perfect start; four under through seven and felt like I had taken control of the golf tournament and was a couple ahead,” McIlroy said. “I made two bogeys on the way in, on 12 and 16 and didn't birdie 14 and 15, the birdie holes. Obviously knew I needed something to happen on the last. On the last, I knew what I had to do. I hit a great 5-wood. It was a great way to finish, making the playoff.”

In overtime, McIlroy drove it in the water hazard on 18 and made a sloppy bogey while Fitzpatrick also limped to the finish line. But the Englishman navigated a tricky up-and-down to save par for the win.

“Unfortunately, hitting it in the water there on 18 put me behind the eight-ball,” McIlroy said. “I’m happy for Matt. He's had a great end of the season. He played great to get on the Ryder Cup team, and then he’s kept it going since, so really happy for him.”

Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. Open champion, earned his first worldwide victory since the 2023 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and his third DP World Tour Championship title.

“Yeah, it means the world,” Fitzpatrick said. “Struggled at the start of this year, obviously, and to turn it around in the summer like I did and have a Ryder Cup like I did, Ryder Cup in particular, feel like it's hard to top given everything.

“But the way that I played today, you know, I feel like I really didn't hit one bad shot all day. I'm so proud of myself, the effort that everyone puts in behind the scenes. Yeah, what a feeling.”

Ludvig Aberg, Laurie Canter, Tommy Fleetwood and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen all shared third at 17 under.

The playoff loss mattered little for McIlroy. He had already secured the Race to Dubai crown, the cherry on top of a year he had already dubbed the best of his career.

It was his fourth successive Race to Dubai title and seventh overall. Surpassing Seve Ballesteros’ six Order of Merit victories had the Ulsterman choked up.

“I had a conversation with his wife, Carmen, before I went out to play today, and she told me how proud he would have been,” McIlroy said. “I said this on this green last year, he means so much to this tour and to the European Ryder Cup Team. We rally so much around his spirit and his quotes and everything he meant for European golf. To equal him last year was cool but to surpass him this year, yeah, I didn't get this far in my dreams.”

It was a season for the ages. And such a season deserves an encore.

McIlroy’s last official tournament of the year will be the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne from Dec. 4–7. Although, that’s technically in a new DP World Tour season; this one deserves some breathing room.