Rory McIlroy’s Quest For Dual Season-Ending Titles
Rory McIlroy has already captured the FedEx Cup, now hes got his sights on the Race to Dubai.
Earlier in the year, I reviewed the history of the winners of the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai. In it, I told of the one and only person to have their name on both trophies. Henrik Stenson was the only person to win both crowns and he did it in the same year.
Today, I write to tell of the story of Rory McIlroy who is now the second person to have won both.
About a month ago McIlroy closed out his thrilling FedEx Cup win in a playoff at the Tour Championship. A feat that remains impressive given the circumstances. He headed into the Tour Championship with a chance to win the FedEx Cup but it was a chance that seemed low.
McIlroy needed to win the Tour Championship and have Dustin Johnson finish second or worse. Maybe another year that might have seemed to have a higher chance of happening but DJ was fresh off a win the week before at the BMW Championship and enjoying some of the best golf of his career. Beating the 2016 PGA Player of the year was no small feat so McIlroy had his work cut out for him.
More from European tour
- Davis Love III, Zach Johnson Reflect on What They Learned as Ryder Cup Captains
- DP World Tour Rookie McKibbin Forging His Own Path On Tour
- DP World Tour Fantasy Golf: Qatar Masters First Round Showdown Picks
- DP World Tour Fantasy Golf: Commercial Bank Qatar Masters DFS Picks
- Reflections on a Pilgrimage to the Home of Golf
The battle with DJ turned out to be exactly what you would expect given the circumstances. He again played some tremendous golf all week as he was in first place after the each of the first three rounds. As McIlroy quietly hung around near the top of the leaderboard all the attention was on DJ. With just a few holes remaining in the final round, McIlroy’s hole out for an eagle on the 16th hole, sent waves throughout the course but most importantly got himself back in the tournament. After he closed out his win in a playoff, DJ had faded just enough to a tie for sixth for McIlroy to take the FedEx Cup crown.
With Race to Dubai titles already on his resume, the FedEx Cup was the only remaining piece to the puzzle for McIlroy to earn the historic honor. He captured the Race to Dubai on three different occasions in 2012, 2014, and 2015.
He’s captured a win at both of these events. Now he’s chasing Henrik Stenson in his quest to win both of them in the same year. He’s in third place in the Race to Dubai in this year’s current standings as the race is nearing its conclusion. With quite the deficit to make up in the standings, McIlroy once again has his work cut out for him. He is sitting behind Henrik Stenson and Danny Willet, currently 1,055,091 points behind the leader Willet.
Additionally, McIlroy is in the field this week at the WGC-HSBC Champions, with points available for this year’s Race to Dubai as well as the 2016-17 FedEx Cup.
Next: Rory McIlroy To Play TaylorMade Driver And Fairway Woods This Week
A slow start means he has a lot of work left to do in Shanghai after a slow opening round, but he can add to his existing totals regardless, and still maybe just match Stenson’s feat. For now he’s got a taste of winning both separately either way.