SUN CITY, South Africa -- Rory McIlroy sealed the top place in the DP World Tour rankings Sunday without hitting a shot, as none of his closest challengers can now catch him following the penultimate event of the season at Sun City.
McIlroy, with 5,164.5 points going into the DP World Tour Championship at Dubai this week, has now finished top of the European tour's money list five times, along with 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2022.
After making more than 7 million euros ($7.48 million) in prize money in nine tour events this year, McIlroy is 2,083 points ahead of second-place Jon Rahm, the Masters champion, with Adrian Meronk third.
Meronk played in this weekend's Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City, where he added 94.5 points after finishing 15th.
The tournament in South Africa was won by American Max Homa, who finished 4 shots ahead of Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard.
The top 50 finishers in the Race to Dubai rankings will compete for a $10 million purse at Jumeirah Golf Estate starting Thursday.