Rory McIlroy Leaderboard and Score Updates from DP World Tour Championship 2014
Rory McIlroy blew a great chance to win the DP World Tour Championship on Sunday, after fortune gifted the Race to Dubai title winner an opportunity to enjoy a pressure-free finale to an exceptional year.
Instead, McIlroy was left to watch defending champion Henrik Stenson triumph on the Jumeirah Golf Estates course, netting a staggering $8 million prize in the process.
Read on to find out how this year's No.1 performed during his last test of the year.
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Day 4 Recap
McIlroy's strong finish certainly contained an ample amount of luck to go along with the Northern Irishman's considerable skill. That good fortune was most obvious at the 18th hole, where McIlroy produced a tee shot that seemed to defy logic.
The European Tour official YouTube channel recorded what threatened to prove a pivotal moment.
Not many players could miss the fairway, lean toward the water, hit a rock and land back on the fairway. Great players often make their own luck, but on this occasion, the World No. 1 should doth his cap to the gods of fortune.
That spectacular shot positioned McIlroy to par the 18th. It marked the 15th time he reached par on the day, a testament to his consistency, as well as his coolness under pressure.
That latter quality is not something leaderboard rival Stenson could lay claim to earlier on. The Swede hit a double bogey on the 11th, just three holes after a bogey at the eighth.
Stenson's gaffes seemed to be a cue for McIlroy to kick his game into overdrive. He hit consecutive birdies at the 14th and 15th, before less-than serenely making work of the final three holes.
However, the par on last hole will haunt McIlroy. He hadn't made the most of his good luck which even afforded the chance of an eagle.
That kept things interesting and let Justin Rose and Stenson hang around at the top. The latter produced a shot to rival McIlroy's early effort to salvage things at the 17th:
That left Stenson to birdie the 17th and enter the final hole one shot ahead.
It also left McIlroy to rue missing the great opportunity fate had handed to him. Here's his final day scorecard:
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 36 |
| Score | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 34 |
| Hole | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Out |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 72 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 68 |
Stenson's win left the final leaderboard looking like this:
| Position | Player | Day 1 Score | Day 2 Score | Day 3 Score | Day 4 Score | Total |
| 1 | Henrik Stenson | 68 | 66 | 68 | 70 | 272 |
| T2 | Rory McIlroy | 66 | 70 | 70 | 68 | 274 |
| T2 | Victor Dubuisson | 71 | 68 | 67 | 68 | 274 |
| T2 | Justin Rose | 71 | 66 | 68 | 69 | 274 |
| 5 | Shane Lowry | 66 | 71 | 72 | 66 | 275 |
Full leaderboard info available at EuropeanTour.com.
The Swede retained his title after a birdie at the 18th. But he'll know how close he came to throwing it all away if only McIlroy had made the most of his chance on the final hole.
Day 3 Recap
Rory McIlroy endured another topsy-turvy day at the DP World Tour Championship on Saturday, as costly mistakes saw the Northern Irishman slip four shots back of the tournament leaders with a two-under-par round of 70—as European Tour revealed:
That leaves the Open and PGA Championship champion on 10 under heading into the final day in Dubai, and he’ll be livid with himself after a day that could, and perhaps should, have been a lot better.
Here’s a look at McIlroy’s scorecard from Round 3:
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 36 |
| Score | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 33 |
| Hole | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 72 |
| Score | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 37 | 70 |
Starting the day in a tie for second and two shots off the pace set by Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, McIlroy opened his day solidly with four straight pars on the first four holes.
However, the 25-year-old then sprung into life, recording three consecutive birdies on holes 5, 6 and 7 to propel him to the top of the leaderboard.
Everything was looking rosy for the world No. 1, especially after a birdie on the 10th took him to 13 under for the tournament, but following that, the unthinkable happened.
McIlroy hadn’t double-bogeyed a hole at the DP World Tour Championship in 220 holes of tournament play standing on the 12th tee, but the duck was then rather painfully broken—per European Tour:
It was all about how the young sensation could recover from there, but his opening shot on the 13th saw him fire directly into the crowd on the par three, and trouble loomed once again.
From there, McIlroy couldn’t recover, as another double went on his card to move him to eight under par and outside the top 10—via European Tour:
The sign of a champion is getting back up when you’re down, and that’s exactly what McIlroy did at the par-five 14th, much to the adulation of the Dubai crowd and Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis:
Although a little wayward off the tee in his next three holes, McIlroy managed to retain his composure to par out before posting a birdie on the final hole of the day to stay in contention for the title.
Speaking after the round, McIlroy reflected on his double-bogey frustration and said that he needs a big improvement on Sunday if he's to take the title, per European Tour:
"The 12th and 13th ruined the scorecard a bit. It makes life a little more difficult for me tomorrow. I need to be aggressive, I need to go at pins, hit it close and make some putts. I felt a little better out there today than yesterday so knew if I stayed patient the birdies would come. I got on a nice run with three birdies in a row from the fifth and another one at ten, but unfortunately the back nine was not quite as good as the front. It was annoying to follow one double bogey with another. I was a little frustrated but it was nice to get a couple back and at least keep myself in touch.
"
Four shots isn’t the biggest deficit from which to recover and, of course, he’d be sitting pretty at the top of the leaderboard were it not for holes 12 and 13.
Carding six birdies on Saturday will bring the Race to Dubai champion plenty of encouragement, too, but he needs a big lift if he’s to round off the European Tour season in style on Sunday with a victory.
Day 2 Recap
McIlroy was unable to hit the heights of Day 1 in Dubai on Friday but is still very much in the mix near the top of the leaderboard after a two-under round of 70 took him to eight-under par overall.
A late flurry of birdies made up for a somewhat workmanlike opening 13 holes and the Northern Irishman remains in an ominously lofty position going into the weekend, two shots behind leader Henrik Stenson on 10-under.
Here is McIlroy's scorecard from Day 2 of the season-ending tournament:
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 36 | |
| Score | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 35 | |
| Status | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | -7 | |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 72 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 35 | 70 |
| Status | -7 | -7 | -6 | -6 | -7 | -8 | -7 | -8 | -8 | -8 | -8 |
An opening birdie got him off to a fine start as he once again made three on the first thanks to a beautifully judged approach shot which took him within five feet.
However, that was to be his only gained shot on the front nine as he failed to hole another birdie putt, although he scrambled well for par on three and six to keep himself at seven-under.
He dropped back to six-under early in the back nine with his first bogey of the tournament at the par-four 12th having found a bunker from his drive.
McIlroy claimed the shot back at the par-five 14th and then moved to eight-under on 15, just one shot back from the nine-under lead of Stenson at the time, per the European Tour:
The world No. 1 then dropped back another shot after a completely unnecessary three-putt on 16 only to then find a birdie two at 17.
However, it looked as though it may be a disaster at the last as he drove into the water on 18, his disgusted reaction telling the story, per the European Tour:
An up and down from the edge of the green was enough though for McIlroy to claim par and he finished with a two-under round of 70 to leave himself two shots of the lead.
He will go out in the penultimate group on Saturday with Scot Richie Ramsay and remains very much in contention for the year's final title.
Day 1 Recap
McIlroy posted a six-under 66 to take joint ownership at the top of the leaderboard at this year's DP World Championship, following a sensible showing during the opening day. He joined Shane Lowry as the early pace-setter
Here's McIlroy's first scorecard of the tournament:
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 36 | |
| Score | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 32 | |
| Status | -1 | -2 | -2 | -3 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | ||
| Score | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 34 | 66 |
| Status | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 | -5 | -6 | -6 | -6 | 36 | 72 |
An obviously at-ease McIlroy entered the Dubai course with a pair of birdies, immediately asserting his control and power in sunny conditions. The European Tour's official Twitter account highlighted the confidence in his stroke right from the off:
Rory progressed to four-under after five holes, leading James Corrigan of the Daily Telegraph to poke fun at the heightened expectations around McIlroy's every outing:
A steady showing followed. McIlroy opted for a sensible selection of shots to keep himself in contention at the early stage, taking very few risks during his opening round.
He holed nine consecutive pars to remain just behind Lowry's clubhouse lead, before slotting home birdies on the 15th and 16th, entering the last two holes on equal footing.
McIlroy was unable to topple Lowry at this stage, but certainly has an extra gear to show before the weekend is over. He posted a par on his penultimate hole—the shortest of the course at 195 yards—before replicating this feat with a short putt at the last.
Prior to his appearance, McIlroy pinpointed a greater focus on golf as the key to his success. "I've been able to put a few things out of my mind this year and just focus on golf," he revealed, per BBC Sport. "It's really been the first year I've been able to do it. I guess getting used to it has been a big part of being able to do it."
The 25-year-old is now in a terrific position to round off the year with victory. McIlroy's six-week absence could have significantly impacted his game, but he quickly brushed off any doubts by hitting solidly. He will now look to establish a lead of his own by upping the ante during the second session.
Lowry stands little chance of keeping up if McIlroy manages to do this. Although Stenson also lingers just two shots short of the lead, it's the Race to Dubai victor who enters the rest of the competition in the most confident mood, and in the knowledge his best is yet to come.
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