Rory McIlroy achieved his aim of increasing his cushion at the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings with a stunning final round of 62 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship but with Marco Penge also finishing strongly, he knows he still has work to do in Dubai to secure a fourth straight Harry Vardon Trophy.
Masters Champion McIlroy arrived at Yas Links 441 points ahead of second-placed Penge in the season-long race but made an eagle and eight birdies on Sunday to finish in a tie for third and stretch his lead over Penge to 767 points.
But with 2,000 points awarded to the winner of next week's DP World Tour Championship, it is still all to play for with one event to go.
McIlroy, who has finished top of the Rankings six times in all, said: "I just tried to keep my foot down and make as many birdies as possible knowing that, OK, I'm trying to win this tournament but also give myself the biggest cushion possible going into Dubai next week, as well.
"I really like that golf course. It really suits me. Probably suits me a little bit better than this course does this week just in terms of what you need to do off the tee and into the greens.
"This was a great confidence-builder this week coming off a couple of weeks off and I'll hopefully just produce more of the same next Thursday and onwards."
Penge, who has three DP World Tour wins to his name in 2025, finished in a share of ninth after posting a closing 63 which contained back-to-back eagles.
He is pleased to be heading into next week's showdown at Jumeirah Golf Estates on the back of a good round.
Penge said: "Mentally, me and my caddie were great today, and nice to go into next week shooting that score today.
"Obviously got off to a great start, starting birdie, birdie, birdie. I mean, I played great all week. The putter has been very cold up until today.
"Yesterday I was poor mentally and broke myself down a bit and wanted to come out today and fight back, and that's what I did. Yeah, nice to shoot a low one."
