Rory McIlroy has admitted he arrived at this week's DP World Tour Championship unprepared, having already got his hands on a fifth Race to Dubai title a week early.
McIlroy landed the DP World Tour's Order of Merit for the second time in as many years last week, all without having to lift a finger. The Northern Irishman's nearest competitors failed to close in on him at last week's Nedbank Golf Challenge, which ensured the title was wrapped a week prior to the season finale.
Heading to Dubai already a champion, McIlroy got off to a slow start at the Earth Course, sitting 10 shots behind 36-hole leader - and Ryder Cup teammate - Nicolai Hojgaard after opening rounds of 71 and 72.
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With his hopes of ending his campaign with a victory now faded McIlroy finally kicked into gear on Saturday, carding a superb seven-under 65 in round three to move him inside the top 20 with 18 holes to play. Opening up on his bounce back, the four-time major winner put his slow start down to his lack of preparation heading into the week.
"I haven't done much at all after the Ryder Cup. You know, tried to putt in a little bit of practice over the last couple of weeks," he commented. "But I sort of jammed my wrist, as well, a couple weeks ago and that sort of limited how many balls I hit, too.
"Yeah, just sort of came in not as prepared as I could have been or should have been, but feel like I'm starting to find my feet a little bit after a few days." McIlroy's third round showing came without a blemish, after the 34-year-old birdied seven of his 18 holes on Saturday morning.
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While the former Open champion headed to Dubai with the luxury of having the season-long title already wrapped up, he did admit it was not exactly how he planned on defending his crown. "I probably would have liked to have done it another way," he said pre-tournament.
"But I've played well when I've came back over to The European Tour this year and won two Rolex Series Events and had some other really high finishes in tournaments that give a lot of points, and yeah, look, it's really nice to have my name on the Harry Vardon Trophy for the fifth time and just be one behind Seve and still a few behind [Colin Montgomerie].
"But you're talking about the greats of the European game, and to be up alongside them is really, if someone had told 18-year-old Rory when I was making my professional debut in 2007 that I would have won five Order of Merits up to this point, I wouldn't have believed them."
McIlroy has played just nine Race to Dubai events on his way to collecting yet another title, and despite his schedule being PGA Tour-heavy, his victories on the Wentworth-based circuit are clearly still just as important. "I certainly don't take it for granted," he added.
"And you know, it shows the consistency that I've played with over the last few years that even though I feel like I've had a good year, I don't feel like I've had a great year, but I can still go ahead and achieve things like this."
