Rory McIlroy ranks his season out of ten ahead of DP World Tour finale
McIlroy has tasted victory three times this season, winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the Wells Fargo Championship and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Shane Lowry
Rory McIlroy is in pole position to win a sixth Race to Dubai title this weekend - but the Holywood man would only give his season an eight out of ten.
McIlroy has tasted victory three times this season, winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, the Wells Fargo Championship and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Shane Lowry.
And while his season might be best remembered for an agonising near-miss at the US Open, the 35-year-old has the chance to draw level with European golf great Seve Ballesteros in winning the order of merit six times.
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Only South Africa's Thriston Lawrence, who needs to win this weekend, has a chance of reeling in the four-time major champion.
McIlroy said: "Seve is almost like, not a mythical character to me, but was just a little bit before my time.
"But he was my dad's favourite player, and I don't think it can be understated the immense impact he had on European golf from the Ryder Cup to what he did for The European Tour.
"He means a lot to the overall game of golf but specifically in this part of the world and on this tour.
"So to draw level with him and to have a career that can sort of somewhat stack up against his is very cool."
Asked to assess his golfing year, McIlroy takes plenty of positives but admits that losing out to Bryson DeChambeau at Pinehurst still hurts.
He said: "Yeah, incredibly consistent again. I think I've been really proud of that over the last few years. But then at the same time, you know, thinking about the ones that got a way. I could be sitting up here with a fifth major title and I am not. So that stings and that's something that I have to come to terms with but at the same time I've got plenty more opportunities in the future.
"But I really just tried to focus on the positives this year of consistently performing at the highest level. You know, still having three wins with an opportunity to get a fourth here this week, to win another Race to Dubai title.
"You know, did I achieve every goal I set for myself this year? Probably not.
"But I still consider it a successful season. You've got two guys at the top of the World Rankings down there winning two majors. You know, Scottie winning a Masters and a PLAYERS and the Olympics.
"They certainly separated themselves from the pack this year. I'm obviously very aware of that, and it only makes me more motivated to try to emulate what they did this year."
Pushed to grade himself this year, McIlroy said: "It would be a pass. It wouldn't be a pass with playing colours. Probably an eight."
McIlroy returns to the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai this week where he has enjoyed plenty of success on a layout designed by LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman.
"I been coming back here for 15 years, and it's a very modern-style golf course that suits what I do pretty well," said McIlroy. "There's four par 5s that I can take advantage of those. There's a couple of shorter par 4s that I can get it close to.
Yeah, I don't know, like the aesthetic of the sort of splashed up-white bunkers. I feel like it provides a lot of definition and you can see what shots you want to hit.
"I'm not going to give it too much credit because of who the course designer is but it's a course that I have always enjoyed playing."
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