Money-list triumph is truly special, says McIlroy

Tuesday, 18 November 2014 00:41 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Rory McIlroy capped the best season of his career by adding the European Tour’s money-list title on Sunday to his two major championship victories.

The 25-year-old Northern Irishman, who sat out this week’s tournament in Belek, knew the crown would be his providing Sergio Garcia of Spain, German Marcel Siem and Jamie Donaldson of Wales failed to win the $ 7 million Turkish Airlines Open. “To win the Race to Dubai for the second time really is something truly special,” McIlroy said in a news release after victory in Turkey went to American Brooks Koepka. “That four-week spell over the summer, from the Open to the US PGA Championship, would have to be the best golf of my life so I feel like I’ve really earned the Race to Dubai. “Winning it for the first time two years ago was a fantastic feeling but I feel like I’m now a more complete player and my all-round game has moved to another level,” added the world number one. “I’ve put in a lot of hard work this season, with my game and my fitness, so it’s nice to get the rewards at the end of it.” McIlroy, who also won the tour’s flagship event - the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth - and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Ohio this year, said he would still go all out to capture next week’s DP World Tour Championship title in Dubai. “In some ways the pressure is off but I’ll fight very hard to end the year on a high with another victory,” he added. European Tour chief executive George O’Grady saluted McIlroy’s 2014 achievements. “It says something about his outstanding form that Rory ends the year as the dominant player not only on our tour but on the world stage,” said O’Grady. “He is a credit to himself and to the European Tour and a most deserving winner of the Race to Dubai.”