Winners, Losers & Payouts from the 2025 DP World Tour Championship

Matt Fitzpatrick Wins the 2025 DP World Tour Championship: How He Did It — and Who Faltered on Sunday

The Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates challenged some of the world’s finest players last week, especially on Sunday. What unfolded was a dramatic final round featuring a flawless charge from Matt Fitzpatrick, a late stumble and recovery from Rory McIlroy, and leaderboard shuffles that told the story of a  DP World Tour season finale worthy of its stage.

Fitzpatrick entered Sunday one shot behind the lead, but in Dubai, momentum shifted quickly. From the opening tee shot, he looked like a player who understood both the stakes and the golf course. Over the next four hours, he pieced together a surgical bogey-free 66—one of the best closing rounds of the week—placing relentless pressure on the field. He hit fairways, controlled trajectory beautifully into greens, and rolled putts with a confidence that suggested he knew he was playing his way into the tournament’s defining moment.

By the time Fitzpatrick tapped in on 18, he had reached 18-under par for the week. The score didn’t just position him well; it set the number everyone behind him had to chase. And only one player would catch him: Rory McIlroy. THE RORY MCILORY.

McIlroy’s round was part grit, part frustration. For much of the day, he traded blows with the lead, hovering around the top of the board but never quite able to break free. His tee-to-green game was sharp, as usual, but small mistakes on the back nine opened the door for Fitzpatrick’s charge. The most notable came at the 16th hole, where McIlroy’s drive found a bunker and left him scrambling to save par. He couldn’t. The bogey cost him his cushion and visibility—Fitzpatrick suddenly became not just a chaser, but the main man posting the number.

Still, champions respond, and McIlroy did exactly that on the closing hole. From the fairway on 18, he delivered the shot of the week: a towering, pure 5-wood approach that settled inside eagle range. When he poured in the putt, the roars rolled down the Earth Course like thunder. (NOTE: This is hyperbole, since the crowds in Dubai were small, but I think you get the idea.) At 18-under, McIlroy had forced a playoff. The Race to Dubai title was already his, but this moment was about the trophy in front of him.

The playoff returned to the par-5 18th. The scene was electric, the kind of playoff hole that’s settled both tournaments and year-long races in the past. But immediately, it took a turn. Like a man possessed, McIlroy pulled his tee shot into the water, and with that swing, the advantage shifted decisively to Fitzpatrick. McIlroy’s third shot found the greenside bunker, and though he fought to save par, which he didn’t, the mistake proved too much. Fitzpatrick, needing only a routine up-and-down, secured par, the title, and his third DP World Tour Championship victory (his previous wins came in 2016 and 2020).

With the win, Fitzpatrick collected the event’s $3 million top prize and added another defining moment to a career built on rising to big occasions. McIlroy claimed the runner-up check plus the Race to Dubai bonus for finishing first in the season-long standings. Behind them, a talented pack of challengers—Ludvig Åberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Laurie Canter, and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen—finished one stroke back at 17-under, one good swing away from joining the playoff themselves.

But while the leaders delivered the fireworks, the final round also featured subtle but meaningful Sunday struggles that reshaped the leaderboard. A handful of players who started the day inside the top five slipped just enough to take themselves out of contention. Most notably, those who couldn’t take advantage of the accessible scoring holes on the back nine paid a steep price. On a day where the leaders were shooting in the mid-60s, even one or two bogeys cost players multiple spots on the board—and thousands of dollars in prize money.

That’s the beauty and brutality of the Earth Course. It gives you chances, but if you don’t take them, others will. Fitzpatrick did. McIlroy did, until he didn’t. And that single missed fairway in the playoff became the defining contrast between a win and a near-miss.

Five Key Tournament Takeaways

1. Fitzpatrick’s Bogey-Free 66 Was the Round of the Week

He delivered the only spotless scorecard among the contenders on Sunday, and it set the target no one could beat—even McIlroy.

2. McIlroy’s Bogey on 16 Changed Everything

That single mistake flipped momentum, erased his margin, and forced him to rely on a heroic eagle at 18 just to make a playoff. But man, that was an awesome eagle.

3. The Playoff Turned on One Swing

McIlroy’s skanky tee shot into the water on the first extra hole was the decisive moment. Fitzpatrick needed only steady nerves to close it out.

4. A Strong Chase Pack Came Up One Shot Short

Fleetwood, Åberg, Canter, and Neergaard-Petersen all finished at 17-under—a reminder of just how fine the margins were.

5. The Race to Dubai Still Belonged to McIlroy

Even without the tournament win, McIlroy’s consistency over the season secured him the $2 million season-long title bonus.

Winners & Losers from Sunday in Dubai

Loser: Terrible Tyrrell Hatton. We love Mr. Terrible, but his horse dropping final round 72 not only stunk, it also dropped him from contention to finish T-14. Any hot mic keyed in on Hatton would have made for a fun listen.

Winner: Fitzpatrick. He played like a man possessed on Sunday and didn’t flinch, even when forced into a playoff by World #2.

Loser: Martin Couvra. On a day when more players shot in the 60s than shot in the 70s, Martin fired an 82. Was he injured? We’ll never know, but his ego and bank account both took hits on Sunday

Loser: Thriston Lawrence. The big man from South Africa fired a leaky 2-over 74 Sunday to finish up T-24. If he would have fired a respectable 69, which was roughly par for Sunday’s benign round in Dubai, he would have finished up T-11, and would have doubled up his take him $$$.

Winner: Rory. He could have shot 100 on Sunday and still been a winner in our book. Instead, he posted a 5-under 67 after eagling his 72nd hole, and banked a ton of cash, on top of his bonus for winning the Race to Dubai. He had one helluva a year on both the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR.

 2025 DP World Tour Championship Payouts