DUBAI — With what would seem like less-than-his-best stuff, Rory McIlroy still leads in Dubai. Rinse, repeat; rinse, repeat. In this country, it feels inevitable.
It’s no less impressive this time but it is much of what this tournament and this part of the world has seen from McIlroy, who once call Dubai home early in his career. After winning the DP World Tour Championship last fall — en route to a third-straight Race to Dubai title — McIlroy holds a share of the lead through 54 holes again. As a result, he is a dominant favorite to claim a fourth-straight Race to Dubai. Only Tyrrell Hatton (one shot back) could get in his way, and a Hatton win may not even be enough.
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McIlroy has shown moments of inadequacy (and frustration) this week — half-faking like he would pile-drive his putter into one green Saturday afternoon — but the inevitability of his game right now looks something like 67 or 68 strokes around the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. Any score starting with a 7 would be shocking. His last seven rounds here:
68-69-66-69-69-69-67
He has admitted to trying to “piece together” sections of the course this week when he’s hasn’t felt his best, even using his “scoring skills” to grind out a sub-70 round Friday. There was that ugly bogey from the middle of the fairway on the 1st — things you can’t get away with twice, but he might just try on Sunday. When his putter started wobbly in the third round — missing multiple three-footers in the first four holes — he let it affect him for a bit. But ultimately his long game thrives at a course that accentuates it.
On Sunday, he’ll find himself playing alongside Rasmus Neergaard-Peterson, a young Dane with zero career wins on this level. On their heels are six others — namely Tommy Fleetwood and Hatton, who both seem to be playing the best golf of their lives. You could say the same about a number of others one shot back, like Laurie Canter and rookie Angel Ayora. The best golf of their lives, it would seem. And against McIlroy, on this course, it may not matter.
Perhaps the best example came at the last — a par 5 up the hill that is all about positioning around a creek bed that snakes toward the clubhouse. It’s a United Arab Emirates version of the 18th at Valhalla, another course McIlroy has dominated. After driving it exquisitely most of the day, McIlroy flared one out to the right, leaving it on the imported, maroon wood chips that surround much of the Earth Course’s grassy areas. From there he pitched out and pitched on to eight feet, holing the putt and calling an end to what felt like an otherwise average day, and nearly calling an end to the Race to Dubai 24 hours early.
In regards to his nearest competitor for that award, McIlroy isn’t considering him much. And why should he?
“I’m focused on myself,” he said. “If I go out and play the golf that I know I’m capable of, especially around this golf course, I know that it will be okay.”
