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McIlroy looks forward after Turkey disappointment
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McIlroy looks forward after Turkey disappointment

Rory McIlroy has targeted a win in his final two events of the season after extending his lead in The Race to Dubai at the Turkish Airlines Open.

Rory McIlroy

The World Number Three went into the final round at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal just one shot off the lead after three rounds of 67 but failed to gather any momentum and posted a closing 71 to end the week in a share of sixth.

That was still enough to get him 256,695 points in The Race to Dubai and, with closest rival Danny Willett landing 128,524 after finishing in a tie for 11th, McIlroy's lead at the top was extended to 399,385.

With huge prizes available in the remaining events of The Final Series, that means all is still very much to play for but McIlroy's record at the World Golf Championships - HSBC Champions and DP World Tour Championship is formidable.

The Northern Irishman has never finished outside the top six in four visits to the WGC event while his victory in Dubai in 2012 was one of five top fives since 2009.

I definitely feel like I can get myself into contention - Rory McIlroy

"It's always good to test yourself under pressure and in contention.

"My game didn't hold up as well as I wanted it to today. But next week's another opportunity to get myself into the mix again and see if I can handle it a bit better.

"It's always disappointing whenever you have a chance to win and you don't play well enough to do that. I'll be going away from this tournament very disappointed with how I played today.

"But I'm still playing two more events this year and I feel like my game is good enough to give myself two opportunities to win again.

"It's not all bad. I feel like my game is in decent shape going forward. I just need to work on a couple of things and if I can get them straightened out in the next couple of weeks, I should be okay."

Victor Dubuisson

Victor Dubuisson claimed victory in Antalya and that handed him 1,333,330 points and catapulted him up to seventh in The Race to Dubai standings, moving Bernd Wiesberger down to eighth.

Shane Lowry was the big winner at the very top of the standings as his eighth-placed finish moved him up third above Louis Oosthuizen and Justin Rose, although he did slip 617,476 points behind McIlroy.

Branden Grace then remained in sixth with Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Byeong-hun An, who finished third and fourth in Turkey, rounding out the top ten.

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