McIlroy seeking further improvements in 2011

RORY MCILROY ended a rollercoaster season on a high note when he spectacularly eagled the last from three feet to finish fifth in the Dubai World Championship.

The 21-year-old closed with a five-under par 67 to finish just two strokes outside the play-off and while he gave his year just “six or seven” out of ten — despite winning on the PGA Tour and recording a pair of top-3 finishes in majors — the Holywood star hopes to become an even stronger player next term.

Believing he is good enough to structure his season around the majors, having opted to resign his membership of the PGA Tour, he reckons 2010 will go down as a watershed year.

“Looking back, I’ll probably be a little disappointed, but that’s natural and that’s golf,” McIlroy said. “You’ve got to try and keep improving and getting better and I think I’m definitely on the right track. I have learned a lot about myself and my game this year. Where you want to play, where you want to be, what’s important to you and that’s been a very big positive this year.”

Singling out the Ryder Cup as the highlight of his season, he added: “Consistency is something I can work on. I feel my short game has improved this year and that’s because it’s had to - I haven’t hit ball as well as I did last year. I’ve got a lot more variety now, which I am happy with, so if I can get the ball striking back up where it was this time last year, I will be happy.”

Peter Lawrie three-putted the 18th for a 71 and a tie of 13th - with Graeme McDowell among others. The Dubliner earned €84,662 for his trouble and ended the season a career-best 36th in the money list. But he believes he could have done a lot better had he holed his “fair share” on the greens over the course of a season that brought eight top-10 finishes.

“It summed up the year,” Lawrie said of his three-putt finish. “Had I won this season, it would probably have been the best season of my career. I’ve been very consistent and striking wise it’s been superb. I’d give myself an A for striking and a B all round.”

Darren Clarke (71) tied for 28th to finish 30th in the final Race to Dubai standings and earn himself an exemption for next year’s Open Championship at Royal St Georges.

But Pádraig Harrington will be glad he has next week’s Nedbank Challenge in Sun City to look forward to after a closing 76 left him tied 39th at one-over and 20th on the money list — his worst season in Europe since 2005.

“A lot of times I was inside the top-10 and a good score would have given me a chance to contend, but I’d end up shooting an average of 73 or 74 and finishing 20th,” Harrington said.

“There are a lot of good signs and hopefully this year will go down as just one of those years. I look forward to getting out there next year and getting a fresh start.”