McIlroy cherishes 'very meaningful' finish to 2024
After what he admitted was the most emotionally draining season of his career, Rory McIlroy still feels only those who had "career years" enjoyed more success than him in 2024.
The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland ended his season with a win at the DP World Tour Championship on Sunday, clinching his sixth Race to Dubai title in the process.
The victory was the world number three's fourth of the season, but the four-time major winner knows his 2024 will be most widely remembered for a series of near-misses, most prominently when making bogey in three of the last four holes to allow Bryson DeChambeau to snatch the US Open.
Despite the sense of missed opportunity, McIlroy feels only American duo Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler had better years.
"I know how people are going to view my year, and I'm going to view it similarly, but I still need to remember I won four times and won a sixth Race to Dubai," he said.
"I accumulated a lot of big finishes and big performances.
"The two guys that had better years than me had career years. Xander won two Majors and Scottie won a Players, a Masters and an Olympic gold medal."
'It doesn't have to be important for everyone else'
McIlroy finished two strokes ahead of Denmark's Rasmus Hojgaard at Jumeirah Golf Estates after a three-under-par 69 in his final round and appeared emotional when interviewed on the 18th green.
It was his third consecutive time topping the DP World Tour's rankings, with his sixth overall title drawing him level with the mark set by Seve Ballesteros.
Although many will continue to judge McIlroy's efforts by his 10-year wait for major number five, he said titles such as the Race to Dubai remain key to his ambitions.
"What I've learned is, it doesn't have to be important for everyone else," he added.
"I think what I did today is very meaningful for me personally.
"[There are] people just looking from the outside in terms of things I've achieved in the game or didn't achieve this year, but just because it isn't important to them, doesn't mean it shouldn't be important to me."
Only Colin Montgomerie, who won what was then the Order of Merit eight times, has topped the end-of-season standings more often than McIlroy, who feels he has another decade at the top of the game to chase down such marks.
"I've a good 10 years left I think," he said.
"Who knows that the game of golf looks like in a few years time, but as long as the Race to Dubai is happening and there's an Order of Merit, I'm going to want to win it.
"As long as I'm healthy and feel I have the game to compete at the highest level, I'm going to try and get the best out of myself up until the point I feel like I'm no longer able to compete at the highest level, but I feel like that's a very long way away."
