Emotional Rory McIlroy dedicates record-equalling Race to Dubai title to hospitalised father Gerry

Seventeen years after doing similar in its pilot edition, Rory McIlroy slipped into the media centre beside the 18th green at Earth Course as inconspicuously as he could manage to watch the final throes of the Race to Dubai.

These days, being understated is a rather trickier gig. Being the first European to win a career grand slam, the star of multiple Ryder Cup wins for Europe and now a record-equalling eighth order of merit, will do that.

In 2009, he had watched through a window of the press room as Lee Westwood stole in to win the first DP World Tour Championship, and thus snatch the maiden Race from his grasp.

This time around, it was the opposite. Instead, it was McIlroy who was nipping in to take the title away from Eugenio Chacarra, the rising Spanish star, right towards the end and by the barest of margins.

As it was being rubber-stamped out on the green, McIlroy leaned back against the door, and scrolled his phone.

Maybe he was looking for confirmation he actually had achieved this history-making win and equalled Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight.

The permutations had been so complex that, over the final few holes, the organisers had taken to flashing up the consequences that each shot carried.

McIlroy acknowledged he had not even known the calculations himself until those morsels of information were flashed up on the screens.

In the end, he finished runner up in the tournament behind Tyrell Hatton. On account of finishing second on his own, he won the race by a mere 125 points ahead of Chacarra. Had he been tied for second, he would have lost out.

He got the job done – just – and so kept a very poignant promise to his dad, Gerry.

“My dad is a massive part of my life, and has been my biggest supporter,” McIlroy said.

“He is the one that got me into the game and the one that told me to follow my dreams, never give up, and never think that you're not good enough or you're not big enough.”

McIlroy revealed his father had been in hospital for two months after having a double lung transplant.

He had gone to visit him before heading to the Middle East for the DP World Tour Play-offs in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, content he was recovering well.

“It’s been a stressful time for our family,” McIlroy said.

“I've been up in Cleveland a lot because that's where he is. I didn't know if I was going to go to India [for a tournament last month] because I spent nine days in the ICU with him while he was recovering.

“If things were not looking as good as they were, I probably wouldn't have felt comfortable travelling or being too far away.

“But he's got an amazing team up there. The doctors and nurses are absolutely incredible. He was obviously in wonderful hands.

“I went up to see him before I left for Abu Dhabi a couple of weeks ago, and he said to me, ‘Rors, go and win me The Race to Dubai’.

“That was in my head for the last two weeks. I really wanted to do it for him and I know he's in his hospital bed, and he would have been watching this morning. It was nice to be able to get it done for him.”

He did not make it easy for any of his supporters watching. There has never been a closer or more nerve-racking finish to the Race.

“Rors has had a pretty special career,” Hatton said, after lifting the DP World Tour Championship for the first time.

“He's going to go down as the best European golfer in history by the end of his career. He's the first European to win the grand slam. He's now tied Monty winning eight Race to Dubai titles.”

Chacarra finished tied for third, just two strokes away from tying with McIlroy, and so winning the Race.

“It was a good fight, I just came out short,” Chacarra said.

“That's the beauty of golf. Obviously, when you play with the best in the world – and he's played here 14, 15 times – you knew it was going to be tough. He had a better day than I did.”