Matt Fitzpatrick signed for a bogey-free, 6-under 66 to reach 18-under and set the clubhouse target at the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy started the day with a share of the lead and made five birdies, two bogeys and an eagle at the par-5 18th to enter a playoff with a 67.

Fitzpatrick parred the first extra hole at the 18th to win while McIlroy made a bogey.

This was the second Rolex Series title for the Englishman who had previously won the DP World Tour Championship in 2016 and 2020.

“It means the world,” said Fitzpatrick. “I struggled at the start of this year, obviously, and to turn it around in the summer like I did and have a Ryder Cup like I did…the Ryder Cup in particular, I feel like it’s hard to top given everything.

“But the way that I played today, I feel like I really didn’t hit one bad shot all day. I’m so proud of myself, the effort that everyone puts in behind the scenes. Yeah, what a feeling. What a feeling.

“Everyone on the team has really, I feel like, has come together, and I couldn’t be happier. And obviously in that down period, I had the support of my wife and my friends and family, and to turn it around and be here now is very special.

“I really want to make sure that I thoroughly enjoy it.”

McIlroy’s runner-up finish comfortably saw him win his seventh Harry Vardon Trophy capping a year featuring a career Grand Slam, victory at the Amgen Irish Open and another Ryder Cup.

McIlroy has now won the Race to Dubai title four years running, moving him past Seve Ballesteros’ six win and just one short of Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight.

“I said this on this green last year, [Ballesteros] means so much to this Tour and to the European Ryder Cup Team. We rally so much around his spirit and his quotes and everything he meant for European golf.

“To equal him last year was cool but to surpass him this year, yeah, I didn’t get this far in my dreams, so it’s very cool.

“[The record] seems within touching distance now. I was the first European to win the Grand Slam and I’d love to be the most successful European in terms of winning Order of Merits and season-long races.

“I’ve hopefully got a few more good years left in me, and hopefully I can catch [Montgomerie] and surpass him.

“He was always my dad’s favourite player. He’s a beacon of what European golf stands for and I just think about growing up and playing golf and my dad being such a big part of it, and then his sort of connection with Seve – Seve was the one that really inspired him to play golf. And then, I don’t know, it’s just a parallel to that.

“When I hear Seve, it just sort of brings me back through my whole journey in the game, and yeah, it’s quite emotional.”

Enland’s Tommy Fleetwood and Laurie Canter both closed with 67s for a share of third place at 17-under alongside Denmark’s Neergaard-Petersen who held a share of the overnight lead and shot a 68, as well as Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg who carded a bogey-free 66.

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