Emotional Rory McIlroy dedicates landmark eighth Race to Dubai win to poorly dad

Rory McIlroy fought back tears as he dedicated a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title to his father Gerry, who is recovering from a double lung transplant.

The Masters champion clinched second place behind Tyrrell Hatton at the DP World Tour Championship to edge out Eugenio Chacarra and match Colin Montgomerie’s haul.

Spaniard Chacarra had held a slender 533.93-point lead over McIlroy going into the season finale at Jumeirah Golf Estates, but the Northern Irishman overturned that deficit after a blemish-free fourth round of 67 saw him finish on 10 under par, on his own in second, to take a fifth successive Race to Dubai crown.

Chacarra had needed to win the tournament to make sure he fended off McIlroy, as well as potentially several other big hitters in the chasing pack.

However, a final round of 69, which featured six birdies but also three bogeys either side of the turn, saw him come up just short at eight under in a tie for third, with other scores in the final groups also going McIlroy’s way over a tense back nine.

Reflecting on his achievement, McIlroy paid an emotional tribute to his father Gerry, who has been recovering in hospital in the United States following surgery at the end of September.

Fighting back tears in his post-tournament interview, McIlroy said his father had been in his thoughts “a lot”.

McIlroy said: “He has been in the hospital for the last two months. He underwent a huge operation at the end of September and he is recovering well, thankfully.

“When I left to come here to the Middle East, I went up to Cleveland to see him before I went and he said to me, ‘Go win the Race to Dubai’. This one is for him.”

McIlroy revealed more details of his father’s treatment during the post-tournament press conference.

“It’s obviously been difficult. He’s been living with this for a while, for 18 months, and it got to the point where the last resort was he needed a transplant, so he had a double lung transplant in September. Thankfully, the operation was a success and he is recovering well,” McIlroy said.

“It has been a stressful time for our family. I have been up in Cleveland a lot because that’s where he is. I didn’t know if I was going to go to India (for last month’s DP World India Championship) because I spent nine days in the ICU with him while he was recovering.

“If things were not looking as good as they were, I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable travelling or being too far away, but he has got an amazing team up there, and the doctors and nurses are absolutely incredible.

“So that (message from my dad) was in my head for the last two weeks, and I really wanted to do it for him.

“I know he is in his hospital bed and he would have been watching this morning. It was nice to be able to get it done for him.”

Back-to-back Masters champion McIlroy also spoke of his pride at equalling Montgomerie’s record.

“To pull up alongside him and to win any of these things, it means the world to me,” the Northern Irishman said.

Englishman Hatton secured his first DP World Tour Championship title at 15 under, pulling clear following his closing round of 66, which saw him take third place in the overall Race to Dubai standings.

“I am just really proud of how I played on the back nine, the putter was amazing and it certainly saved me all week. It feels so good to win here,” Hatton said.