He may have made some new swing changes, but he’s still the same old Rory McIlroy.
The Northern Irishman shot an 8-under 64 at the HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, moving his rankings up to 21 under overall. He eventually finished in a tie for third place and three strokes behind Paul Waring, who birdied the 17th and 18th holes and pulled away late.
His third place also earned him 465.33 Race to Dubai points, further cementing his place at the top of the rankings for next week’s DP World Tour Championship. McIlroy now has 4,997.66 points in total, and South African Thirston Lawrence, who is second, has 3,212.64 points this season. But with the winner of next week’s event in Dubai reaching 2,000 points, McIlroy would have to finish close to last to avoid winning his sixth Order of Merit. Lawrence should also win outright, as he currently faces a deficit of 1785.02 points. No one other than Lawrence can steal McIlroy’s thunder as everyone else is more than 2,000 points behind McIlroy.
“Every shot counts at the moment, and I was happy to get the last four and give myself at least a half chance at this tournament this week, but also give myself a little bit more support when I go to Dubai next week go. too,” McIlroy said.
“I feel in a good position. I saw Thriston [Lawrence] made an attack today, and I was watching the leaderboard and watching what he was doing. I saw he had posted twenty.”
Like McIlroy, Lawrence fired an 8-under 64 to finish tied for sixth with Tommy Fleetwood and a pair of Frenchmen, Ugo Coussad and Antonie Raznor.
“Just points-wise, I just look at the standings,” Lawrence said.
“I knew this was crucial to at least get a top five or top six depending on how the boys finished.”
Unfortunately for the South African, McIlroy beat him with a stroke, increasing his lead in the Race to Dubai by more than 200 points. Unless something crazy happens in Dubai next week, McIlroy will once again take home the Harry Vardon Trophy.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Make sure you check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko also.