In the last months of this year, Rory McIlroy trying to make DP World Tour history. His longtime nemesis Patrick Reed aims to rain on Rory’s parade.
And if Reed succeeds, he will make his own history.
The DP World Tour race in Dubai, formerly known as the Order of Merit, is a season points classification very similar to the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour. McIlroy has captured seven of those titles in his career so far.
This is one short of the all-time record of eight held by Colin Montgomery.
McIlroy has been on a tear in recent years, capturing the Race to Dubai title four seasons in a row. But as he makes his first attempt to equal Montgomerie’s all-time record this year, he has a major problem with just a few events: Reed. is ahead of him in the ranking.
And while Reed is primarily an American pro, he has plenty of reasons to covet one of Europe’s highest golf honors.
Patrick Reed could become the 2nd American to win the Race to Dubai
Before joining LIV Golf, Reed was a mainstay on the PGA Tour. Despite this, Reed regularly traveled abroad to play on the DP World Tour, earning an honorary life membership in 2019.
In February of this year, Reed announced that he was leaving LIV. Facing a suspension from the PGA Tour, Reed turned his talents to the DP World Tour full time. One hope for Reed was to finish in the top 10 in the Race to Dubai standings, which would earn him a PGA Tour card for 2027.
Quickly, however, Reed showed that he wanted a much higher ranking. He won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at the end of January, then add another victory to the Qatar Masters in early February.
Strong finishes at the Masters (T12) and the PGA Championship (T10) added to Reed’s points tally. Now with the season winding down, Reed is in first place in the Race to Dubai.
If he wins, it would be only the second time an American has taken the title, following Collin Morikawa’s win in 2022.
After a strong opening 68 in this week’s BMW PGA Championship, Reed confirmed just how much a Race to Dubai title would mean to him.
“It would mean a lot,” Reed said Thursday. “I’m still proud to be an American who still comes and shows support for this tour. But to be able to go ahead, Race to Dubai, a win would mean a lot.”
While he admitted the race of the season is on his mind at Wentworth this week, he said he is focused on taking it one day at a time.
“It’s definitely in the back of my mind, but at the end of the day you just have to go out there and take care of business every day,” Reed said. “And hopefully we play late enough next Sunday so we can kind of stop at the end.”
McIlroy on ending Race to Dubai: ‘It doesn’t matter who’s up there’
McIlroy spoke about his chance at history during his BMW PGA pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday.
“Obviously I’m in a very fortunate position, I guess, to go for an eighth run in Dubai,” McIlroy said. “I can’t believe I’m sitting here with seven. So, yeah, I’d like to give it another chance.”
He continued: “I’m definitely motivated to play well for the rest of the year. I’m still working on some things in my swing, so I’m just trying to have a balance between always keeping an eye on it, but I’m trying to play my best golf and give myself some chance to win.”
McIlroy also noted to reporters that he knows Reed extended his points lead at last week’s Irish Open, where Reed finished T2 to McIlroy’s T41. But he also said that being second is the motivation to play well in itself, no matter who the player is in front of him.
“It doesn’t matter who’s up there. I think being second now and being a bit far ahead, that’s enough motivation to try to finish the year well,” said McIlroy.
As for the competition against McIlroy, Reed had only good things to say Thursday, despite the two players’ history of animosity at the Ryder Cup and beyond.
“Every time I get to go play against Rory, it’s always fun because it means you get to play amazing golf. With his record and just his resume that he has, he’s a champion,” Reed said of McIlroy. “He’s been a champion a ton of times and he’s one of those guys that, if you go against the best, you’ve got to take him and Scottie. To have the opportunity to take him throughout the rest of the year will be fun and looking forward to it.”
Some professionals have expressed concerns about the last two events of the seasonthe Abu Dhabi Championship and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, due to security concerns arising from the Iranian war.
If those tournaments end up being canceled, McIlroy will have fewer opportunities to overtake Reed.
