Rory McIlroy has been in this position many times. For Ryan Fox, it’s a new experience. Two golfers with very different profiles are vying to finish atop the DP World Tour’s season-long points standings entering this week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course in Dubai. McIlroy — who recently won a record-setting third FedExCup and sits atop the world ranking — leads the Race to Dubai standings as he bids to be the DP World Tour’s leading player for the fourth time in his career (2012, ’14 and ’15). McIlroy could be the first player to end a year as the FedExCup champion, DP World Tour champion and No. 1 player in the world ranking. Fox is only narrowly behind McIlroy in second place — the points difference is just 128.1 — after the best year of his career that has seen him win two events, the Ras al Khaimah Classic and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and be runner-up four times. Last month, the New Zealander reached a career-high ranking of No. 23. “Rory is the best player in the world,” Fox said Wednesday. “He’s obviously the favorite but to be in this position is great and I’ve got nothing to lose this week. “Won’t do anything different from what I’ve been doing all year. Just go out and try to beat the golf course and see what happens in that sense. That’s served me pretty well and hopefully I can do the same thing this week.” McIlroy has won the FedExCup and DP World Tour Ranking three times each, but never in the same year. “The way I’ve played throughout the year, I’ve been so consistent, especially the last six or seven months post-Augusta,” said McIlroy. “I feel like my game is in good shape. I would be slightly disappointed if I walked away from here knowing I didn’t play as well as I can, and I know if I do play like that, I’ll give myself a good chance.” Five other players — Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry and Adrian Meronk — also have a chance of pass McIlroy in the Race to Dubai standings but would need both players to have poor finishes this week. Fitzpatrick, the U.S. Open champion, is in third place and has the best chance of the outsiders. A third win at the DP World Tour Championship would see him jump to first place provided neither McIlroy or Fox finish the event in second, while a second-place finish would also require McIlroy to finish lower than seventh. Fitzpatrick feels he has the ideal game to follow up his previous victories at the Earth Course in 2016 and ’20. “I remember when I first came here in 2015, everyone said they didn’t think that it would necessarily suit me because it is a big golf course,” Fitzpatrick said. “But there are things that you have to do well here. Putting is No. 1. That’s the biggest influencer of playing well here, and driving is No. 2. And they are both my strengths. Over the years, particularly as I’ve got longer as well now, that’s obviously been a big bonus and the greens are just so pure here as well.” As for Fleetwood, Hovland, Lowry and Meronk, they all need to win and hope McIlroy and Fox aren’t too close behind them on the leaderboard. Fleetwood, who recently moved to the Middle East with his family, is coming off winning the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa last week, his first victory in three years, and opening the Tommy Fleetwood Academy at Jumeirah Golf Estates this week. “Dubai is where normal life is for us at this time,” Fleetwood said.
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