RORY MCILROY SAVED his best for last as he shot a final-round 65 to finish in a tie for ninth at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
McIlroy finished the week on 12-under-par alongside Henrik Stenson who shot 65 to secure his second Race to Dubai title.
The pair finished five shots behind Matthew Fitzpatrick whose 67 was enough to give him the tournament win, one shot clear of fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton.
“It’s been a great year, the best year of my career,” Stenson said.
“I’ve always thought it was going to be hard to top 2013, but I think I’ve done that this year. Maybe not to the level of golf over six months, but certainly with the highlights of winning The Open, the Olympics and managed to win the Race to Dubai again.
“So it’s been a great year and it feels lovely to finish in this way.”
Only three players scored worse than McIlroy on Thursday as the world number two struggled to a disappointing three-over par.
But he turned his weekend around with back-to-back 68s before finishing in style on Sunday.
“I really got it going around the end of the front nine and thought there could have been something special going on,” he said.
“Looking at the board, I was six-under through nine and maybe three behind at that point, maybe two behind, but it wasn’t quite meant to be. I didn’t keep that momentum going through the back nine.”
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