Rory McIlroy suggests whether catching Patrick Reed in the Race to Dubai gives him extra motivation

Rory McIlroy has suggested that he is desperate to win the Race to Dubai once again this year regardless of the fact that Patrick Reed is the one player above him in the current standings.

McIlroy is now able to focus his full attention on the DP World Tour for the remainder of the year after showing some positive signs during the FedEx Cup playoffs. Of course, should the Northern Irishman win the Race to Dubai this year, he will tie Colin Montgomerie for the most Order of Merit victories of all time with eight.

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The 37-year-old is currently second in the standings. And he is very familiar with the player ahead of him, with Patrick Reed winning twice earlier in the season.

McIlroy and Reed have a complicated history, with plenty of bad blood existing at times between the two. They also played out one of the greatest matches in Ryder Cup history at Hazeltine back in 2016.

McIlroy will surely recognise how beneficial Reed’s return to the DP World Tour has been, while also dealing a big blow to LIV Golf. Nevertheless, you can understand if the six-time major champion was particularly keen to prevent Reed from clinching the Race to Dubai.

However, speaking about Reed leading the way, McIlroy insisted at the BMW PGA Championship that his focus is on lifting the Harry Vardon Trophy.

“Yeah, obviously I’m in a very fortunate position, I guess, to be going for an eighth Race to Dubai. I can’t believe I’m sitting here with seven. So, yeah, I’d love to give myself a chance again,” he said.

“Last week wasn’t a great week for me in terms of the overall points. Patrick had a good week, and I didn’t have such a great week. I’m going to have to try to make up for that this week. I’m certainly motivated to play well for the rest of the year. Still working on some things in my swing, so just trying to have a balance between still keeping an eye on that but trying to play my best golf and give myself some chances to win.

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“It doesn’t matter who’s up there. I think being second right now and being a little ways off first, that’s motivation enough to try to finish the year off well.”

McIlroy has dominated the European standings over the last few years. He has won the last four Race to Dubai titles, so it is undoubtedly good for the DP World Tour to have two heavyweights battling it out.

Reed is such a brilliant competitor, and he seems to get better when he is taking on the best. So it is no surprise that Reed recently expressed his excitement about battling with McIlroy.

“To have the opportunity to play against him more frequently, especially here in the Race to Dubai, is going to be amazing,” he said.

“I just have to go out there and continue playing some solid golf, and hopefully continue staying ahead of him.“

The potential showdown between Reed and McIlroy will boost almost every single DP World Tour event for the rest of the year, including the ones where only one of the pair is in the field.

And it would be fantastic for the game if their battle went right down to the wire.

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