Kieran Shannon: Do we appreciate how high in the pantheon Rory McIlroy ranks? 

There are facts and figures outside of golf that are testament to just how big a talent and name he is.

GLASS HALF-FULL: Rory McIlroy poses with the DP World Tour Championship and the Race to Dubai trophies. PICTURE: AP Photo/Altaf Qadri

We still don’t get how big he is. We still don’t get how good he is.

Rory McIlroy is not the first Irish golfer to win the last European tour event of the season to finish top of its order of merit. Thirty-five years ago Ronan Rafferty pulled off the same feat, beating Nick Faldo by a shot back when the last tournament of the season was put on by the old money of Valderrama rather than all that oil money of Dubai.