The Holywood star battled a cold putter all week at East Lake, but after making birdie at his last two holes to close with a level-par 70 and finish 23rd on six-under, he immediately targeted the Amgen Irish Open and the BMW PGA.
“Those are two big weeks for me to try to extend my lead in the race to Dubai,” said McIlroy, who needs two more season-long titles to match Colin Montgomerie.
“That’s become a pretty important thing for me. It’s chasing a little bit of history there. I want to put my head down and play well those couple of weeks; two home tournaments for me, Ireland being my national open and we live pretty much on the course at Wentworth.
“So a big couple of weeks just to try to play well, but also sharpen up different aspects of the game going into the Ryder Cup.”
McIlroy topped the six automatic qualifiers for Luke Donald’s European team from Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Rasmus Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton.
Who will join them in New York remains to be seen after Hojgaard claimed the final automatic spot in the side when he tied for 13th at the Betfred British Masters behind Sweden’s Alex Noren and left Shane Lowry needing a pick.
Noren shot 67 to win by a shot on 16-under from Hojgaard’s twin brother Nicolai and New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori at The Belfry.
Lowry, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Matt Wallace are the next six in the final standings and it’s more than likely that at least one of them will lose out as Spain’s Jon Rahm also needs one of Donald’s six picks on September 1.
How recent results, and this week’s Omega European Masters, affect Donald’s thinking remains to be seen, but Noren believes he’s on the outside looking in, even after ending a seven-year wait for his 11th DP World Tour title.
As overnight leader Fitzpatrick slipped to sixth after a 74, Noren made a six-footer for bogey at the 18th to win by a shot from Kobori and 2023 Ryder Cup star Nicolai Hojgaard, who could still join his twin brother at Bethpage.
“It’s probably the biggest goal we have together,” Rasmus said. “I think if it would happen this year, it would be amazing. But I’m sure we’ll both fight to be able to do it another time if it didn’t happen.”
Donald and his vice-captains know big hitting will be key in New York, which may stand against Fitzpatrick and help the case of players like Nicolai Hojgaard or the in-form Marco Penge, who tied for sixth at The Belfry.
Meanwhile, Canice Screene tied for 41st behind Swedish amateur Meja Ortengrenon in the LET’s Hills Open as Max Kennedy finished 23rd, 10 shots behind Italy’s Filippo Celli, in the Dutch Futures after a closing 68 in Spijk.
