McIlroy feeling back to his best after Dubai triumph

Rory McIlroy believes he has put his injury nightmare behind him and is back to his best after claiming the Race to Dubai title with victory at the DP World Tour Championship.

The world number three suffered an ankle ligament injury in July while playing football with his friends, forcing him to miss a string of tournaments including The Open.

Slowly he has worked his way back to fitness and, after impressive displays at the Turkish Airlines Open and WGC-HSBC Champions, he claimed a fourth win of 2015 on Sunday.

Eight birdies adorned his final round of 66 to see him finish 21 under par, one shot clear of Andy Sullivan, to finish the year as Europe’s top player.

“It’s what I wanted to do at the end of the season,” he told Sky Sports.

“I set my goals I guess in October to try and win the Race to Dubai and try to at least win a tournament before the end of the year and to be able to do that is fantastic.

“It caps the year off nicely. It’s been a little bit of a struggle at times. But to finish like this is fantastic and I’m really going to enjoy a few weeks off now and get ready for next season.

“I’m really excited [for 2016]. I feel like my game’s back to the level where I want it to be at. I think everyone saw that the last couple of days.

“This is the way I can play and obviously, if I can play like this, there’s more tournaments and hopefully majors out there for me. Just need to stay injury free next year hopefully I’ll be alright.”