Rory McIlroy has won the Seve Ballesteros Award for the fourth time in his career. Voted by his peers as the 2024 Player of the Year on the DP World Tour, McIlroy won the Race to Dubai title for the sixth time pulling him alongside Ballesteros for the second-most behind only Collin Montgomerie’s eight season-long crowns.
“The Seve Ballesteros Award is very meaningful to the players because it’s voted on by your peers that you play with and against week-in, week-out, and they are out there competing on the same golf courses and maybe have more of an appreciation for what you’ve done for the year,” McIlroy said. “So, I’ve always felt like when you get those awards, whether it be in Europe or America, it’s a really nice compliment from your fellow players that you feel like they really know what went on last year.
“Yeah, it’s really cool. Anything with Seve’s name on it is really cool. … As Europeans, we’re so lucky to have him to rally around, whether it’s at the Ryder Cup or just in general. Like he did so much for the game of golf — in Europe, especially. So, any time you can get mentioned alongside him is obviously very important.”
The Northern Irishman began his DP World Tour season in tremendous fashion by finishing runner up at the Dubai Invitational before successfully defending his Dubai Desert Classic title the following week. McIlroy tacked on six additional top-five finishes from there, including close calls at the U.S. Open, Scottish Open, Paris Olympics, Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship where he fell in a playoff to Billy Horschel.
McIlroy’s last top-five result came in the first playoff event in Abu Dhabi before returning to his winning ways. The 35-year-old bookended his year in style at the DP World Tour Championship where McIlroy fended off Rasmus Højgaard to win both the season finale and the season-long race.
McIlroy received 46% of votes cast by his peers with Højgaard finishing second and Thirston Lawrence rounding out the top three. The former world No. 1 had previously won the honor in 2012, 2014 and 2015.
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