Tearful McIlroy dedicates record-equalling win to ill dad

DP World Tour Championship final leaderboard

-15 Hatton (Eng); -10 McIlroy (NI); -8 Chacarra (Spa), Lindell (Fin); -7 Olesen (Den), Reitan (Nor), Laporta (Ita), Lindberg (Swe), Perez (Fra)

Selected others: -4 Wallace (Eng); -3 Rahm (Spa), Schaper (SA); Level Fleetwwod (Eng), Reed (US), Fox (NZ); +1 Rai (Eng)

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Rory McIlroy wiped away tears as he dedicated his eighth Race to Dubai victory to his ill father, Gerry.

Moments after matching Colin Montgomerie's record of season-long European tour titles on Sunday, the Northern Irishman was asked about the health of his father.

An emotional McIlroy revealed Gerry has been in hospital for two months after "a huge operation" - a double lung transplant - at the end of September.

"He's recovering well, thankfully," McIlroy told the DP World Tour.

"But before I left to come here to the Middle East, I went up to Cleveland to see him. He said to me: 'Go win The Race to Dubai'.

"This one's for him."

It came after a thrilling climax at the traditional season-ending DP World Tour Championship with Tyrrell Hatton securing a commanding victory, while McIlroy pipped Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra to the overall crown.

Hatton's closing six-under-par 66 helped him romp to a five-shot victory on 15 under par but most eyes were on the thrilling battle that went down to the final hole.

It is the fifth successive year that McIlroy has won the award and it has drawn him level with Montgomerie, the Scot who set a mark 21 years ago that few thought would ever be matched.

"Yeah, double digits," smiled McIlroy when asked what would be his final target of Race to Dubai victories.

"I'd love to surpass Monty next year and we'll go from there."

McIlroy's confidence in going along with a target shouted out by the fans surrounding the 18th green at the Earth Course in Dubai on Sunday was refreshing to hear.

But he appears to be playing and talking with a little more freedom in recent years - the sort of freedom that comes as a result of finally completing the career Grand Slam and winning successive Masters titles - and leads to declarations of winning 10, or more.

"Winning eight Order of Merits (Race to Dubai titles) was never in my list of goals growing up," said McIlroy, who closed with a bogey-free 67 to finish on 10 under and must surely now be considered Europe's greatest golfer.

"I remember Monty being a stalwart of the European tour and playing with him at the London Club in 2008, so to pull up alongside him and win eight of these means the world to me."

After Jon Rahm's victory in Abu Dhabi last week, fellow former LIV Golf member Hatton showed his class with a five-shot success at the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Hatton showed his combustible side earlier in the week but, despite later admitting to being "weirdly nervous" he appeared serene on Sunday.

In the final group and knowing he couldn't win the overall Race to Dubai title, he was detached enough to block out the scramble as he strolled to his ninth DP World Tour victory - even asking an on-course reporter who was going to win as he walked from the 17th green to 18th tee.

It was that head-to-head battle between Chacarra and McIlroy that dominated the tournament, a battle that, after a long hard season, came right down to the wire.

Both players knew victory would win them the title. There were permutations galore for finishing second, third, or below that.

Chacarra and McIlroy went toe-to-toe in and the overall lead in the rankings chopped and changed down an absorbing back nine as neither man backed down.

At one juncture just one-tenth of a point separated the pair.

But a late surge from Northern Ireland's McIlroy allowed him to finish runner-up behind England's Hatton in the tournament and collect enough points to edge out the gutsy Spaniard.

Chacarra, who earned around $15-20m during three years as a LIV player, is in just his second season on the DP World Tour. He is the only three-time winner of this year's campaign and was desperate to add his name to compatriots Rahm and Seve Ballesteros as the third Spanish order of merit winner.

After four early birdies he looked in fine shape. The pressure began to tell as he posted three bogeys in four holes around the turn. But he responded brilliantly with two more birdies to push McIlroy all the way.

Chacarra, the 26-year-old world number 39, finished in a tie for third to end up second in the overall standings and earn a PGA Tour card for next season.

As tough as it was this year for McIlroy to win, mainly due to playing on the PGA Tour for the first half of the season, 2027 will be even harder because there will be some big names flooding in after the collapse of LIV Golf.

Rahm and Hatton are just two high-profile LIV players who are suspended from the PGA Tour for a year following their involvement with the breakaway tour. They will both have a full season on the European circuit that will give them a big advantage over McIlroy.

Along with many other big names such as Sergio Garcia, Joaquin Niemann and Tom McKibbin, there's even the possibility of Bryson DeChambeau, the biggest LIV name of all, applying to join the DP World Tour for next season.

The American is eligible thanks to his 2024 US Open triumph, at McIlroy's painful expense, and had to apply by the end of the Sunday of the DP World Tour Championship.

After this latest addition to McIlroy's glowing CV it's hard to make a case against him being Europe's greatest ever golfer – and as he continues to find new targets to stay motivated one of them is very much to unequivocally nail down that title.

Motivation was a problem in the immediate aftermath of finally ending his long wait to win the Masters in 2025 as he became just the sixth man to win the career Grand Slam.

But a year later he had re-found it as he became just the fourth back-to-back Green Jacket winner with his brilliant defence at Augusta National back in April.

That put him on six major titles, level with England's Sir Nick Faldo and just one behind the great Harry Vardon, whose name adorns the trophy McIlroy has just hoisted for the eighth time.

Still only 37, McIlroy still has plenty of time to overhaul Montgomerie and hold the outright record for the most European number one titles – despite playing on two tours throughout the majority of his career.

Targets have changed – McIlroy is not chasing the world number one spot or winning any old trophy. He's voiced his desire to focus on majors, play more in Europe and around the globe and keep stacking up these order of merit titles.

An Olympic title is perhaps the only honour missing from his trophy cabinet, and he will have the chance to change that in 2028 on a familiar Riviera Country Club Course, which is a regular stop-off on the PGA Tour and where he finished second a this year's Genesis Invitational.

He will be attempting to become the first man to win three Masters in a row next April, before the US Open at Pebble Beach and Open Championship at St Andrews offer great chances at venues McIlroy knows he can thrive on.

McIlroy has won six Ryder Cups as a stalwart for Europe and is just seven points behind all-time leader Sergio Garcia.

But even if the Northern Irishman quit the game right now he's already built a more than compelling argument that he's the greatest player the continent has ever seen.

Watch highlights of Sunday's final round on BBC 2 and BBC iPlayer from 16:15 GMT (UK only)