He may have made some new changes to his swing, but he's still the same old Rory McIlroy.
The Northern Irishman shot an eight-under 64 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Sunday, rocketing him up the leaderboard to 21 under overall. He ultimately finished tied for third place, three shots behind Paul Waring, but Waring birdied the 17th and 18th holes to pull away in the closing stages.
His third-place finish also earned him 465.33 Race to Dubai points, further solidifying his position at the top of the rankings ahead of next week's DP World Tour Championship. McIlroy currently has a total of 4,997.66 points, while second place South African Thurston Lawrence has a season total of 3,212.64 points. But with 2,000 points awarded to the winner of next week's event in Dubai, McIlroy will have to finish near the bottom to earn his sixth Distinguished Service Medal. Lawrence also currently faces a point difference of 1,785.02 points and will need a complete victory. No one other than Lawrence can steal McIlroy's thunder as he is more than 2,000 points behind him.
“Every shot is important at the moment and I was happy to make the last four and give myself at least half a chance in this tournament this week, but I'm looking forward to Dubai next week with a bit more confidence. I was able to give myself a cushion.'' That's the same thing,'' McIlroy said.
“I feel like I'm in a good position. I saw Thriston. [Lawrence] As he was charging today, I kept one eye on the leaderboard to see what he was doing. I saw he posted 20 things. ”
Like McIlroy, Lawrence shot an 8-under 64 to finish tied for sixth with Tommy Fleetwood, two French players in Hugo Cousad and Anthony Lasner.
“Point-wise, I’m just looking at the leaderboard,” Lawrence said.
“It all depends on how the players finish, but we knew that was important to at least get into the top five or top six.”
Unfortunately for the South African, McIlroy beat him by a stroke, increasing his lead in the Race to Dubai by more than 200 points. So unless something strange happens in Dubai next week, McIlroy will likely win the Harry Vardon Trophy again.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
