McIlroy loses playoff to
Fitzpatrick in wild end to World Tour Championship but wins Race to
Dubai
[November 17, 2025]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Rory McIlroy's banner year
in golf ended with fitting drama Sunday when he eagled the last hole
in regulation to force a playoff but lost out to Matt Fitzpatrick,
who won the season-closing World Tour Championship for a third time.
The consolation for McIlroy? A fourth straight Race to Dubai title —
crowning him as the year's No. 1 player on the European tour — to
add to his wins at the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam,
The Players Championship and his home Irish Open. McIlroy also
helped Team Europe win an away Ryder Cup.
All of his big individual victories came in playoffs but a final one
proved just beyond the Northern Irishman, though, after he hit his
drive into a creek on the first playoff hole – No. 18 – and made
bogey. Fitzpatrick chipped to 3 feet and rolled in a par putt to win
the title again at Jumeirah Golf Estates, after 2016 and 2020.
“You never like to see the way it ends, but obviously delighted,”
Fitzpatrick said after sealing his first win in two years.
McIlroy generated the biggest roar of the day when he poured in a
15-footer for eagle on No. 18 to complete a round of 5-under 67 and
join Fitzpatrick (66) on 18-under par for the week. He also eagled
the last at the Irish Open in September to force a playoff before
going on to beat Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren at The K Club.
“In typical Rory fashion, he did it again,” said Fitzpatrick, who
watched it unfold while sitting in the scorer's hut. He met McIlroy
outside, shaking his hand and giving his Ryder Cup teammate a hug.
They did so again after the playoff — which finished with both of
them as winners.
Chasing Monty
For McIlroy, it's a seventh Race to Dubai title, putting him one
clear of the late Seve Ballesteros and one behind Colin
Montgomerie's record haul.
“I didn’t get this far in my dreams, so it’s very cool," said
McIlroy, who revealed that he spoke to Ballesteros' wife, Carmen,
before his round on Sunday.
“It seems within touching distance now,” he added about catching
Montgomerie. “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.”
Wild finish
Nine players either led or held a share of the lead across a wild
few hours at the Earth course that culminated in Fitzpatrick making
three birdies in his final five holes to overtake McIlroy and
overhaul a slew of Europe’s other stars, including Tommy Fleetwood
and Ludvig Åberg.
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Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts after putting on the 18th
hole to earn play-off with Matt Fitzpatrick of England during the
final round of World Tour Golf Championship in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A birdie putt from 6 feet at No. 18 took
Fitzpatrick a stroke clear of Fleetwood (67), Åberg (66) and Laurie
Canter (67) and two ahead of McIlroy, who was waiting in the 18th
fairway knowing he now needed to make eagle.
He hit a fairway wood from around 230 yards to the right of the pin,
got a good read from playing partner Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who
was a few feet further away, and drained the putt.
Neergaard-Petersen (68) made birdie to join the group on 17 under,
in a tie for third.
Season turnaround
Fitzpatrick, the U.S. Open champion in 2022, started the season
slowly but finished it strong, getting into the Ryder Cup team on
the back of top-10 finishes at the British Masters in August and the
European Masters and BMW PGA Championship in September. He then won
2 1/2 points from his four matches at Bethpage Black.
“To turn it around in the summer like I did and have a Ryder Cup
like I did, feel like it’s hard to top given everything,”
Fitzpatrick said.
“But the way that I played today, I feel like I really didn’t hit
one bad shot all day. I’m so proud of myself, the effort that
everyone puts in behind the scenes. Yeah, what a feeling.”
PGA Tour cards
Marco Penge might not have chased down McIlroy in the Race to
Dubai standings this week but he was still smiling after his round
of 67.
It completed a breakthrough year that has seen him take one of the
PGA Tour cards on offer for the top 10 players in the Race to Dubai
standings who are not otherwise exempt.
The other nine players wound up being Canter, Kristoffer Reitan,
Adrien Saddier, Alex Noren, John Parry, Li Haotong, Keita Nakajima,
Jordan Smith and Neergaard-Petersen. They will be dual members of
the two established tours.
Playing alongside McIlroy in the final group, Neergaard-Petersen
needed to play the last five holes in 5 under to be one of the 10.
He went eagle-birdie-par-birdie-birdie to do so.
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