Rory McIlroy doesn’t care about the substantial bonus pool prize on offer for winning the Race to Dubai as long as he is crowned European No1 for the third time in his short but storied career.
McIlroy leads the Race to Dubai by a slender margin of 1,613 points heading into the final week of the season at the DP World Tour Championship.
If he manages to finish ahead of second-placed Danny Willett and none of the other five contenders win the tournament, he will become the Race to Dubai winner for the second successive year and will take home a bonus of $1.875 million.
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However, the only reason he is still in the race is because the European Tour granted him special permission to stay in the competition.
The ankle injury he sustained in July this year forced him to withdraw from three events counting towards the Race to Dubai, and instead of playing 12 events before the DP World Tour Championship, he has played one less.
Asked if he would have felt disappointed if he was in Willett’s shoes, McIlroy retorted: “No. If I can win more money in 12 events than someone can win in 23, I don’t see any reason why?
“I played half the events and won more money. You know, that’s the decision that the European Tour came to and obviously it’s great for me that I’m able to be here and compete this week.
“I said this to Keith Pelley (European Tour CEO), it’s not about the bonus pool. It’s just about being able to compete here and play and try to win the Race to Dubai.
“I’d gladly take the trophy and they can keep the money and do whatever they want with it. For me, it’s more about trying to win the Race to Dubai again.”
McIlroy, who won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year, is eager to complete a Dubai double with a second DP World Tour Championship victory.
He is then taking an extended break, playing his next tournament in the fourth week of January at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
“It’s always great to come back to Dubai – a place where I’ve got a lot of great memories.
You know, going back six years, winning my first professional title to Dubai Desert Classic, winning a couple of Race to Dubai titles and winning the Dubai Desert Classic again this year.
“So it would be nice to do the Dubai double this year and pick up the Race to Dubai title to go with it,” said the 26-year-old.
“Yeah, probably it’s the longest break I’ve had since 2009. I’d love to be flying away from here on Monday morning with wrapping up the Race to Dubai. It would be a great way to finish the season. And it would be very disappointing if that wasn’t the case.”
Danny Willett says Rory McIlroy has ‘more of an advantage’ over the #RacetoDubai field https://t.co/a1zxvRpagT pic.twitter.com/IrpCyU2KgB
— Sport360° (@Sport360) November 18, 2015
McIlroy admits he is a bit surprised that he is still leading the Race to Dubai, a position he has been in since April.
“I didn’t quite think I’d be in this position, and coming into this event, especially after taking the week off last week, but a few of the guys didn’t capitalise on that in China thankfully and I find myself in a position where it’s totally in my hands,” said McIlroy.
“If I go out and win the tournament, I win the overall thing no matter what anybody else does, and that’s a nice position to be in.
“If I am the champion at the end of the week, it means that I win the Race to Dubai and that’s all I’m really thinking about.
“I don’t care who finishes second, who finishes third.”
