A look back at Rory McIlroy's 2014 Race to Dubai victory

Rory McIlroy may be heading in to this week's season finale with the slenderest of leads over Danny Willett, but things were very different ahead of last year's DP World Tour Championship.

Two major victories alongside big-money wins at the BMW PGA Championship and the WGC-Cadillac Championship had given McIlroy an almost unassailable advantage with nearly a third of the season still to play, leaving the then world No 1 not even needing to play in the majority of the Final Series.  

After finishing in a tie for second at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, McIlroy didn't feature until the end-of-season event in Dubai some seven weeks later, by which time the Harry Vardon Trophy was already mathematically sewn up. 

McIlroy's nearest challenge came from Henrik Stenson, who was more than 2.5m points behind the Northern Irishman when the two were paired together at the start of the week. 

Despite holding a share of the first-round lead, McIlroy lost ground over the next two days but still went into Sunday within three of the lead. 

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A bogey-free 68 was a solid end to the week and secured a seventh top-10 in eight starts worldwide, but it was not enough to put pressure on Stenson as the Swede birdied the final two holes for a two-shot win. 

Click on the video above to watch the best of the final round action...

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