Rory McIlroy made DP World Tour history with his win at the DP World Tour Championship completing his sixth Race to Dubai title. McIlroy’s third straight Harry Vardon Trophy moves him into a tie for the second most Race to Dubai titles in DP World Tour history.
Entering the final round tied for the lead, McIlroy made clutch birdies on the 16th and 18th holes to win by two-strokes at 15-under (67-69-68-69). It is not only his third career DP World Tour Championship victory, but also his third consecutive Race to Dubai title.
The win marked McIlroy’s fourth worldwide victory in 2024 with Qi10 driver, TP5x golf ball and Spider Tour X putter. His three other victories took place at the Dubai Desert Classic, Zurich Classic and Wells Fargo Championship.
Before winning the Dubai Desert Classic to start the DP World Tour season, McIlroy made three crucial equipment switches: Qi10 9.0° driver, 2024 TP5x golf ball and Spider Tour X putter. Since then, the equipment he relied on to win the Race to Dubai remained rather steady the entire season.
Rory ranked first in Stroke Average (68.50) on the DP World Tour this season with 2024 being the third season in a row he has achieved this feat. Rory had more birdies than anyone on route to victory this week in Dubai (23) and averaged an impressive 4.8 birdies per round on the DP World Tour this season.
RORY MCILROY WITB
- Qi10 9.0° driver (Ventus Black 6X)
- Qi10 15.0° 3-wood (Ventus Black 8X)
- Qi10 18.0° 5-wood (Ventus Black 9X)
- P·760 4-iron (Project X 7.0)
- Rors Proto Irons 5-9 (Project X 7.0)
- Milled Grind 4 46° SB, 50° SB, 54° SB (Project X 6.5)
- Spider Tour X Putter (SuperStroke Pistol Tour)
- TP5x MySymbol “RORS”
“IT’S THE FASTEST BALL I’VE EVER HIT”
McIlroy immediately benefitted from switching to the 2024 TP5x golf ball starting the season with a 2nd place finish and a win in his first two starts of the year.
The three characteristics of his new TP5x that stood out to him right away were: lower launch, less spin and more ball speed. Those ball speed gains materialised into what he called an added 7-8 yards of distance.
“It’s the fastest ball that I’ve ever hit. It’s unbelievably fast. Even going into the longer clubs, what I’ve picked up with driver as well, it’s amazing.” – Rory McIlroy
Those first two weeks of the season in Dubai with his new TP5x allowed McIlroy to put the ball through a proper test in firm conditions.
“It was a good test to still make sure that the mid irons were spinning enough going into greens and still being able to hold greens,” McIlroy said. “I think the sort of lower launch with the short irons and then the little bit more of a softer feel around the greens was sort of the big selling point to me.”
Knowing the consistency of the performance of his golf ball gave McIlroy confidence hitting any golf shot necessary. When he made the switch to TP5x, McIlroy was deploying a hold off-cut with his mid irons and his new golf ball eliminated any doubts of how the ball would perform on that shot.
“The fact that it doesn’t spin too much when I hit that shot, I really like because I’ve always had this fear with whatever golf ball that I’ve played that if I hit that shot, there’s a tendency to come up short because it spins a little too much. But I don’t really have that fear with this golf ball, which is a really nice feeling.”
HOW Qi10 DRIVER ALLOWED RORY TO PLAY A LONGER SHAFT
During driver testing before the start of this season, McIlroy tested a driver head he normally wouldn’t have considered: the larger head profile and more forgiving Qi10 driver.
McIlroy noticed during at home testing that he found the centre of the face more often with the help of more MOI in Qi10 vs Qi10 LS. That then sparked a thought in his head of if he could return to a longer driver shaft.
In years past, McIlroy shortened his driver shaft to as short as 44 inches as it tightened his dispersion off the tee. With the Qi10, he had a chance for the first time in a few years to be able to go back to a longer shaft to gain more distance without sacrificing any change in dispersion.
McIlory led the field in driving distance this week in Dubai with an average in excess of 340 yards, a full 10 yards longer than the next best ranked, and finished the season with an average drive of 329 yards, ranked #1, with a strokes gained of +1.37 off the tee (ranked #2).
MCILROY’S DRIVER SPEC
- HEAD: Qi10 9.0°
- FINISHED LOFT: 8.0°
- LIE: 57.25°
- FCT SLEEVE: 1.5°
- FCT SETTING: 1 Toward Lower
- SHAFT: Ventus Black 6X
- CUT LENGTH: 45 5/8”
- TIPPING: 1”
- SWING WEIGHT: D5
MAINTAINING SPIDER MANIA
All three of McIlroy’s wins came with his Spider Tour X and the win at the DP World Tour Championship was his first with a new torched finish.
At the same exact spec of his previous gamer, the TaylorMade putter product creation team created a torched finish Spider Tour X and sent it to him ahead of the TOUR Championship. Upon seeing it, McIlroy preferred the look of the torched finish and put it straight in the bag.
In five DP World Tour starts with his torched Spider Tour X McIlroy has a win, two second place finishes and a third-place finish.
McILROY’S SPIDER TOUR X SPEC
- HEAD: Spider Tour X
- HOSEL: Short Slant
- SHAFT: Black Stepless
- LENGTH: 34 1/2 EOG
- LOFT: 3°
- LIE: 69.5°
- SWINGWEIGHT: E0
- GRIP: SuperStroke Pistol Tour
- WRAPS: 1
