{"id":290845,"date":"2025-11-17T17:51:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/290845\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:51:09","slug":"rory-mcilroy-to-end-fairytale-year-at-australian-open-in-melbourne-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/290845\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy to end fairytale year at Australian Open in Melbourne \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most of his work is done for the year, with only the Australian Open left for Rory McIlroy<\/a>. His return to the Royal Melbourne Golf Club on December 4th-7th will bring closure \u2013 from a tournament viewpoint \u2013 on a year\u2019s work for the Northern Irishman which has added greatly to his legend.<\/p>\n

In winning the DP World Tour<\/a>\u2019s order of merit for a seventh time<\/a> (one behind Colin Montgomerie\u2019s record eight) to add to his career Grand Slam achieved at the Masters \u2013 making him the first European player to join that elite club of six men \u2013 McIlroy again demonstrated his role as a standout player of his generation.<\/p>\n

Golf is a numbers game, and the financial rewards from prize money alone \u2013 never mind the sponsorships and investments \u2013 are mind-blowing. His runners-up finish to Matt Fitzpatrick in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai added over \u20ac1 million to his winnings, brining his career earnings on the European circuit alone to \u20ac67,801,396. For context, that\u2019s almost \u20ac30 million more than Lee Westwood, who is second on that all-time money list.<\/p>\n

And, make no mistake, McIlroy is focused on chasing down and passing Monty on the order of merit front, a point he made to the Scot himself when they met in Dubai last week. Already, he has announced his first two tournaments of 2026 will see him return to the United Arab Emirates for the Dubai Invitational and the Dubai Desert Classic to get a launch pad on his quest to match Montgomerie\u2019s mark.<\/p>\n

Kick-starting his year\u2019s work in Dubai also provides a significant fillip to the DP World Tour, which has evolved in the past few years in response to the arrival of LIV Golf<\/a> and the dominance of the PGA Tour<\/a>\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n

\"RoryRory McIlroy with the Harry Vardon Trophy after claiming his seventh Race to Dubai victory. Photograph: Richard Heathcote\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

As McIlroy acknowledged on his latest acceptance of the Harry Vardon Trophy, the DP World Tour has a place close to his heart:<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, the world of professional golf is still a little weird and who knows what the future is going to look like, but to have the commitment of DP World (as sponsors) for 10 years; and to see Ryder Cup team doing so well, and to see how much it means to every single one of the players that\u2019s on the team; and to have amazing events like (the Tour Championship); to have (big tournaments) from the start of September all the way through to, I would say, to the end of January, the DP World Tour is the sort of shining light of golf during course of that time frame. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing that all of the players that are coming to play in those events, and hopefully that continues for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, while the PGA Tour understandably plays a huge part in his golfing life, with three of the Majors stateside, along with signature events including The Players and the FedEx Cup playoffs, there is no doubt that McIlroy\u2019s commitment to the DP World Tour goes beyond convenience. It is very much a part of who he is and what made him.<\/p>\n

Indeed, his contribution was recognised by DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings on Sunday in Dubai. \u201cYou\u2019ve done so many extraordinary things this year, but we at the Tour feel that while you do them for your family, the team, you do a little bit for us, and every single member of the staff appreciates what you do. The career Grand Slam is an extraordinary achievement,\u201d said Kinnings.<\/p>\n

\"SéamusS\u00e9amus Power on the first tee during the final round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship 2025 at Port Royal Golf Course on Sunday. Photograph: Mike Mulholland\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

While McIlroy has some time off before his tournament commitments in Australia next month, there is more immediate urgency for S\u00e9amus Power<\/a>, who goes into this week\u2019s RSM Classic on the PGA Tour likely needing a top-three finish if he is to retain his full playing card for next year.<\/p>\n

Power is ranked 129th on the standings heading to Sea Island, the final event of the so-called Fall Series. Only the leading 100 players earn full tour cards, while those ranked 101 to 125 earn conditional status.<\/p>\n

For Leona Maguire<\/a>, this week\u2019s season-ending CME Globe Championship \u2013 with a $11 million purse, $2 million to the winner \u2013 offers the chance to finish her year\u2019s work in style. Only the top 60 players on the LPGA Tour<\/a>\u2019s order of merit have qualified for the tournament at Tiburon Golf Club in Florida, with Maguire doing so in 56th.<\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s wins of the year<\/p>\n

February<\/p>\n

AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am: 66-70-65-66 \u2013 267, 21-under (Two strokes over Shane Lowry)<\/p>\n

March<\/p>\n

The Players: 67-68-73-68 \u2013 276, 12-under (Playoff over JJ Spaun)<\/p>\n

April<\/p>\n

The Masters: 72-66-66-73 \u2013 277, 11-under (Playoff over Justin Rose)<\/p>\n

September<\/p>\n

Irish Open: 71-66-68-66 \u2013 271, 17-under (Playoff over Joakim Lagergren)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most of his work is done for the year, with only the Australian Open left for Rory McIlroy.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,167311,756,153765,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-290845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-leona-maguire","12":"tag-rory-mcilroy","13":"tag-seamus-power","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}