History was made at the Dubai World Championship, as world No. 1 Luke Donald won the Race to Dubai to become the first player in history to win the money titles on both the PGA and European Tour in the same year.World No. 2 Rory McIlroy, was the only player in the field that had the opportunity to stand in his way of accomplishing that feat.
The Northern Irishman needed to win the event and have Donald finish outside the top-nine for that to happen.
It wasn't meant to be for McIlroy.
After a less than stellar opening round of 72. Donald rebounded with rounds of 68, 66, 66 to finish the event in solo third as Alvaro Quiros took the title in Dubai.
His third place finish was more than enough to clinch the European money title and complete his historic season.
“It’s something that I didn’t think was possible,” said Donald in his post round press conference.
"I played extremely solid, consistent golf all year winning four times and playing right at the right moments. I think it is testament to my hard work and it’s nice to see it paying off.”
McIlroy on the other hand opened the event with a stellar 66 to show that he came to put pressure on Donald for the money title.
Unfortunately, the 22-year old still fighting a virus was unable to capitalize on his strong start and faded over the next three rounds.
He carded three straight rounds of 71, to finish in a tie for eleventh.
McIlroy may have been feeling a bit stretched beyond what even he thought he could have handled over the course of a year.
He wasn't really able to put anything together beginning on Friday through the weekend.
“I just couldn’t get anything going when I needed to,” McIlroy said on Sunday.
“I think that I played a nine-hole stretch on Friday night and Saturday morning in 5 over par. If I had played them on even par, I would have been in a great position going into today. I think that is really where the tournament got away from me.”
With the only player with an outside shot to prevent him from pulling off the double fading over the weekend -- Donald showed why he is the No. 1 ranked player in the world and capped off an incredible 2011 season in historic fashion.
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