DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Rory McIlroy gave himself an eight out of 10 for the 2024 season that promised much but delivered only two titles, but on a Dubai course where he has always brought his A-game, things can get a lot better come Sunday.
Only one player in the field — Thriston Lawrence — has enough points to prevent the World No. 3 from winning a sixth DP World Tour Order of Merit crown to match Spanish legend Seve Ballesteros and get closer to Colin Montgomerie's all-time record of eight.
However, the South African's only chance is to win the title and hope that McIlroy finishes tied for 11th or worse.
McIlroy leads Lawrence by 1,785.02 points after finishing tied third last week in Abu Dhabi.
The winner at the season-ending $10-million DP World Tour Championship receives 2,000 points and the runner-up gets 1,335 points.
However, McIlroy rules the Greg Norman-designed Earth course with an iron fist.
He may have won only twice in 13 starts, but he is a combined 179-under-par in 13 starts (3.44-under-par each round), with two wins in 2012 and 2015 and seven other top-six finishes.
In the 56 rounds he has played on the course, he has shot only four over-par rounds.
Only one player has a better record than McIlroy on this course — Jon Rahm — and he is not in the field.
McIlroy said he was aiming to win the tournament for the third time and not to share the 18th green on Sunday with any other player.
Consistent, but no majors
Last year, he had already wrapped up the Order of Merit before Dubai and had a lackluster outing, finishing tied for 22nd — his worst result in the tournament. Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard won the biggest prize on the DP World Tour.
"I think it’s a nice time to reflect on the year when you come here and you're on the cusp of doing something that, to me, is still pretty meaningful, and just thinking about the body of work you've put together over the last 10 or 11 months," said McIlroy, who won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club in January this year.
"When you get to the business end of things at the end of the year, you start to realise at least I've put together a year that I’m pretty proud of, even if it hasn’t culminated in some of the things that I’ve wanted to achieve."
McIlroy has failed to add to the number of majors under his belt, which is why he said his season was just a pass.
He said he had been "incredibly consistent" but "thinking about the ones that got away. I could be sitting up here with a fifth major title and I am not. So that stings and that's something that I have to come to terms with".
"You’ve got two guys at the top of the World Rankings with Xander (Schauffele) winning two majors and Scottie (Scheffler) winning a Masters and a Players and the Olympics.
"They certainly separated themselves from the pack this year. I'm very aware of that, and it only makes me more motivated to try to emulate what they did this year."
Lawrence has his own score to settle with the course. He made three birdies in his final three holes on Sunday of last year's DP World Tour Championship, but that fell agonisingly short by one shot in his effort to secure one of the 10 PGA Tour cards on offer.
At least he won't have to worry about that as he is guaranteed to be in the top 10 regardless of his finish this week.
"It's nice to have a chance. It's going to take a lot. I need to win and Rory probably needs to finish outside the top 10," said the 27-year-old world number 47, who has five runners-up finishes this season.
"Rory has been an idol for me since growing up as a youngster and being able to clinch it this week would be the cherry on the cake for myself.
"Knowing that I already have my PGA Tour card is a great feeling. That was one of my main targets all year. I have always wanted to play in America."
Only the top 50 players from the DP World Tour's season-long Race to Dubai qualify for the DP World Tour Championship.