RYDER CUP DUO CLOSE OUT SEASON IN STYLE
Ryder Cup duo Matt Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy celebrate with Fitzpatrick winning the DP World Tour Championship and McIlroy won his seventh Race to Dubai title (Photo: Getty)
At the end of a long season, it was two Ryder Cup team-mates who battled to the end before Rory McIlroy secured his seventh Race to Dubai title while Matt Fitzpatrick denied McIlroy in a playoff to win the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
On a thrilling final day of the final event of a sensational 2025 season, it was fitting that the likes of McIlroy and his good friend Fitzpatrick would play out the final scenes.
Fitzpatrick won the prestigious title for the third time at the first play-off hole after the Bethpage Ryder Cup team-mates had ended regulation play tied on 18 under par. Fitzpatrick closed with a 66 to McIlroy’s 67.
The 31-year-old booked his place in extra holes thanks to a stunning end to his final round on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, birdieing the 14th, 15th and 18th holes to dramatically cut the deficit which had seen him drop three shots off the pace with six to play following a run of eight pars in a row from the sixth.
His closing birdie looked to have done enough to win outright after breaking him out of the logjam of players on 17 under par, a group which included his Ryder Cup team-mates Ludvig Åberg and Tommy Fleetwood alongside third round co-leader Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Laurie Canter.
But McIlroy had other ideas, and just like his closing eagle at The K Club to go on to win the Amgen Irish Open, he produced more fireworks on the final green. The Masters champion looked to be out of the reckoning following bogeys at the 12th and 16th which had seen him surrender the lead. However, the Grand Slam winner produced a stunning five wood approach and holed for eagle from 16 feet to join Fitzpatrick at the top of the pile.
Neither player could repeat the fireworks of earlier at the first extra hole, McIlroy producing the first error when his drive found the creek in the middle of the fairway. His third shot after the penalty drop found a bunker, only slightly further from the green than Fitzpatrick, whose third shot ended up in the rough to the right of the putting surface.
One thing that was stellar from the Englishman this week was his chipping, and he continued in that vein, knocking his fourth shot to three feet. McIlroy missed his par putt from 20 feet and Fitzpatrick duly rolled home for the win.
Fitzpatrick’s win moved him to third on the final Race to Dubai Rankings. McIlroy’s considerable consolation for not claiming his third DP World Tour title of the season was finishing the season as the Race to Dubai number one for the seventh time, one ahead of the legendary Seve Ballesteros and one behind Colin Montgomerie’s record.
Shane Lowry finished tied 11th on 13 under with rounds of 68, 67, 71, 69, while Tom McKibbin was tied 16th (70, 70, 70, 67).
Also, up for grabs in at the end of the week in Dubai were ten dual memberships on the PGA TOUR, with Marco Penge, Laurie Canter, Kristoffer Reitan, Adrien Saddier, Alex Noren, John Parry, Haotong Li, Keita Nakajima, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Jordan Smith claiming the ten cards for the 2026 season.
Player quotes
Matt Fitzpatrick: “This means the world. I struggled a bit at the start of this year but to turn it around in the summer like I did and have a Ryder Cup like I did, Ryder Cup in particular, feel like it's hard to top given everything.
“But the way that I played today, you know, I feel like I really didn't hit one bad shot all day. I'm so proud of myself and the effort that everyone puts in behind the scenes. What a feeling.
“I've not been hitting it amazing all week. I kind of hit it really well yesterday, and I would say I hit it really well today. Dan was insisting on being patient all day and just letting the putts come. Like you say, in the middle of the round, nothing was going my way. Managed to roll a couple in and get myself in position.
“Everyone on the team has really come together, and I couldn't be happier. And obviously in that down period, I had the support of my wife and my friends and family, and to turn it around and be here now is very special.”
Rory McIlroy: “(On surpassing Seve Ballesteros) I had a chat with his wife, Carmen, before I went out to play today, and she told me how proud he would have been. You know, I said this last year, he means so much to this Tour and to the European Ryder Cup Team.
“We rally so much around his spirit and his quotes and everything he meant for European golf. To equal him last year was cool but to surpass him this year, yeah, I didn't get this far in my dreams, so it's very cool.
“(On the possibility of overhauling Colin Montgomerie’s record) I want it, of course I do. I caught up with Monty this week when he was here a couple days ago and I saw him. Look, it seems within touching distance now. I'd love to be the winningest European in terms of Order of Merits and season-long races. You know, I've probably got a few more good years left in me, and hopefully I can catch him and surpass him.”
Round four scores
270 M FITZPATRICK (ENG) 69 69 66 66, R MCILROY (NIR) 66 69 68 67,
271 L ÅBERG (SWE) 72 66 67 66, L CANTER (ENG) 68 68 68 67, T FLEETWOOD (ENG) 65 71 68 67, R NEERGAARD-PETERSEN (DEN) 68 67 68 68,
273 R HØJGAARD (DEN) 70 69 65 69,
274 R MACINTYRE (SCO) 69 67 70 68, H LI (CHN) 74 66 66 68, A AYORA (ESP) 70 67 67 70,
275 S LOWRY (IRL) 68 67 71 69, J OLESEN (DEN) 68 72 66 69, N HØJGAARD (DEN) 67 65 73 70,
276 J ROSE (ENG) 68 67 70 71, T HATTON (ENG) 70 67 67 72,
277 T MCKIBBIN (NIR) 70 70 70 67, A NOREN (SWE) 68 68 72 69, K NAKAJIMA (JPN) 70 69 69 69, D HILLIER (NZL) 67 68 72 70,
278 J SMITH (ENG) 75 70 64 69, J SCHAPER (RSA) 69 72 67 70,
279 M PENGE (ENG) 74 70 68 67, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 70 70 70 69,
280 M KIM (USA) 64 76 71 69, A SADDIER (FRA) 73 68 69 70, J VEERMAN (USA) 72 71 66 71, T LAWRENCE (RSA) 66 72 68 74,
281 O LINDELL (FIN) 72 71 70 68, K REITAN (NOR) 74 71 68 68, E FERGUSON (SCO) 70 69 73 69, G FORREST (SCO) 68 71 72 70, P REED (USA) 72 68 70 71, J PARRY (ENG) 71 67 70 73,
282 C HILL (SCO) 72 70 71 69, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 66 74 71 71, B ROBINSON THOMPSON (ENG) 67 74 70 71,
283 E CHACARRA (ESP) 72 70 73 68, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 70 72 73 68, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 75 71 69 68, J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 71 70 70 72,
284 A RAI (ENG) 73 71 72 68,
285 E SMYLIE (AUS) 74 68 72 71, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 71 72 68 74, K KOBORI (NZL) 70 70 70 75,
286 M JORDAN (ENG) 68 72 73 73, D BROWN (ENG) 68 73 69 76,
287 C SYME (SCO) 69 74 70 74,
289 J LUITEN (NED) 71 73 71 74,
290 R MANSELL (ENG) 72 74 69 75,
291 S NORRIS (RSA) 74 71 75 71,
293 N ELVIRA (ESP) 70 77 75 71,
298 M COUVRA (FRA) 73 70 73 82,