McIlroy wins DP World Tour Championship and sixth Race to Dubai title

World number three Rory McIlroy ended the season on a high by winning the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Sunday, two strokes ahead of Rasmus Hojgaard, to seal his sixth Race to Dubai title.

The 35-year-old Northern Irishman carded a 69 in the final round at the Jumeirah Golf Estates to finish on 15 under par after two birdies in the final three holes saw off the challenge of Denmark's Hojgaard.

McIlroy equalled the six titles won by Seve Ballesteros in the European Tour's season-long Race to Dubai, previously called the Order of Merit. Scotland's Colin Montgomerie holds the record with eight victories.

McIlroy came into the final tournament well on course to clinch his third successive Race to Dubai title, with a lead of 1,785.02 points over second-placed South African Thriston Lawrence, who finished well down the field on one under par.

McIlroy began the final round level with Hojgaard and Antoine Rozner of France on 12 under but Rozner's challenge faded with a double bogey on the ninth.

Both McIlroy and Hojgaard bogeyed the opening hole, but the Northern Irishman followed that with four consecutive birdies before another bogey on the ninth left McIlroy with a one-shot lead over the Dane heading into the back nine.

A bogey for McIlroy on the 13th allowed Hojgaard to draw level again but the four-times major champion finished strongest. Hojgaard ended up third in the Race to Dubai.

Shane Lowry's four-under-par round gave the Irishman a share of third place alongside Rozner and Australia's Adam Scott.

McIlroy, who lost the U.S. Open in June to Bryson DeChambeau by one stroke, had already won three trophies across the PGA and European Tours in 2024, the Dubai Desert Classic, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside Lowry and the Wells Fargo Championship.