Nine of the 12 victorious European Ryder Cup team are competing on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates this week. LIV’s Jon Rahm and Norway’s Viktor Hovland are notable absentees.
Austrian Sepp Straka was given dispensation to stay away because of his desire to be with his family after the early birth of his son prior to the Ryder Cup.
McIlroy is on schedule to win the Race to Dubai having appeared in 10 counting events, of which four are the majors; the Masters, US PGA, US Open and Open Championship.
If he finishes in the top two in the season finale, the 36-year-old cannot be caught. Penge, who has played 25 counting tournaments, must be tied second or better to have any chance of the Race title.
Should the 27-year-old Englishman win he will still need McIlroy to come lower than runner-up and if Penge shares second place his rival would have to finish outside the top eight.
Hatton, who is third in the standings, is the only other potential winner of the season-long crown. The Buckinghamshire star must win this week with McIlroy finishing outside the top eight and Penge missing out on a share of second place.
So the likely permutations point to another Race to Dubai title for McIlroy, which would be his fourth season-long success in a row.
“I wanted to prioritise it again,” McIlroy said.
“You look at my third Race to Dubai title in 2015, and there’s a big gap, but in that gap, I won three FedExCup titles [on the PGA Tour].
“It was almost as if I prioritised a little bit the other side of the pond. I think after Covid I said ‘OK, what are some things that I want to do for the next 10 or 15 years of my career’, and one of those was trying to prioritise this tour a little bit again.”
Since missing the cut at the 2021 Masters, McIlroy has posted 11 top-eight results in the majors, including his sensational Grand Slam-completing victory at Augusta last April.
He acknowledges that performances in those tournaments have significantly helped his current run of Race to Dubai successes.
“It’s coincided with better play in the majors,” he said.
“Because as a dual member of both tours, to have a chance to win you really need to play well in those bigger events.”
Record-holder Montgomerie, who won seven orders of merit in a row from 1993 to 99 and an eighth in 2005, did so with relentless domination on what was then known as the European Tour.
Much has changed since – and not just the arrival of a title sponsor for the Wentworth-based organisation. Nevertheless, McIlroy believes the Scot’s record is undervalued.
“I think it’s amazing to have that sustained excellence for that long,” said the Northern Irishman. “There’s a lot of people that can have a good year or a two-year run.
“But to sustain that for seven years straight, it probably doesn’t get talked about enough.
“Especially in that golden age of European golf where he’s going up against [Sir Nick] Faldo and [Sandy] Lyle, [Bernhard] Langer and Woosie [Ian Woosnam].
“I’m not saying that this isn’t a pretty good generation, too, but he had to fend off some really tough competition.”
