Daniel Hillier earns PGA Tour card as Rory McIlroy wins record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title
Daniel Hillier will join fellow Kiwi Ryan Fox on the PGA Tour next season after cementing his status following the season-ending $18 million DP World Tour Championship
Rory McIlroy won his eighth Race to Dubai title to tie the record of Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie after a dramatic final round.
With a 19th-place finish in Dubai, Hillier finished 10th on the season standings, with PGA Tour cards handed out to the top 10 eligible players at season’s end.
Hillier also earned a US$150,000 ($271,420) bonus, with Fox taking home an extra $200,000 ($361,890) for finishing in ninth spot.
The New Zealand Open winner just missed out on a PGA Tour card last season after finishing two spots shy.
“Pretty stoked to be standing here with a slightly different outcome than last year,” Hillier said.
“Did my best all year. Played some pretty good golf ... Really grateful and excited to get it all going next year.”
Hillier said it will be helpful to lean on Fox and his experience in the US next year.
“It’s not starting from scratch but trying to figure out golf courses every week is going to be a challenge. But I’m up for it. That’s what I wanted to do since I was a little kid and since I started playing competitive golf. And having Foxy out there as well, he will be a great guy to sort of lean on and pick his brains on about the golf courses and whatnot and how everything works over there.
“I’m excited. It’s probably going to be a little more tiring than what I’m used to. Every week, you’re kind of going in blind. So have to figure out the energy that goes into every week but I’m excited.”
Along with Hillier, Eugenio Chacarra, former Masters champion Patrick Reed, Casey Jarvis, Jayden Schaper, Jacob Skov Olesen, Andy Sullivan, Bernd Wiesberger, Oliver Lindell and Joe Dean also earned invites into the PGA Tour, in what could be the last year the DP World Tour offers the path.
Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg dropped out of the top 10 after a bogey-bogey finish in Dubai.
The tournament itself was a runaway win for England’s Tyrrell Hatton (66) but all eyes were on the fascinating battle between McIlroy and Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra, playing a group behind.
It all came down to the 18th hole, where McIlroy made a disappointing par to finish on 10-under par, but that was good enough for a solo second place.
That took his ranking points to 5,044.86. Chacarra also could not get a birdie on the final hole and closed with a 69 for a tied third place at eight-under alongside Finland’s Oliver Lindell (65).
The European number one crown was secured with a bogey-free round of five-under par 67, but it all came down to the par-4 16th hole, where he hit a magnificent second shot to a foot for the decisive birdie.
McIlroy started with a birdie, but the momentum seemed to have been halted over the next four holes, when he burnt the edge on three but could not get a second birdie.
He then picked up three shots over the next four holes, but Chacarra kept him in sight with four birdies in his first eight holes.
When McIlroy could not make a birdie on the par-5 14th hole, Chacarra was leading the projected ranking by a mere 0.1 point.
Hatton finally finished with seven birdies against a solitary mistake on the third hole on a day when he again dazzled with brilliant short iron and wedge play.
The win was worth US$3m ($7.24m) and he also climbed to third in the Race to Dubai behind McIlroy and Chacarra, his career best finish.
The new season of the DP World Tour starts in two weeks in Australia with the BMW Australian PGA Championship.
- with AFP