Rory McIlroy insists his season is far from over as he turns his attention to a busy schedule on the DP World Tour starting with the Amgen Irish Open next week.

McIlroy will then play at Wentworth’s BMW PGA Championship before heading back across the Atlantic for the Ryder Cup in Bethpage Black as Europe bid for a first away victory since the Miracle at Medinah in 2012.

“Those are two big weeks for me to try to extend my lead in the race to Dubai,” said McIlroy who could move to within one of Collin Montgomerie’s Order of Merit record with a seventh Race to Dubai crown.

“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 has formed a close friendship and Ryder Cup partnership with Tommy Fleetwood and the Masters champion was full of admiration for the resilience of Fleetwood, a trait both players have had to show in abundance to overcome their respective hoodoos this year.

“I think it shows how great of an attitude he has towards the game, how resilient he is. He’s playing so well. He’s been so consistent for so long.”

McIlroy never contended for a fourth FedEx Cup crown as he finished towards the end of the field at the Tour Championship on six-under for a share of 23rd place, but he admits he couldn’t get the speed of the greens.

Yeah, the season is not over for me. I’ve still got a lot of golf coming up. I refuse to call this the end of the season.

“But yeah, this week wasn’t — I hit it better. The things that I wanted to improve on this week, I did. Off the tee was much better. I’m probably leading strokes gained off the tee.

“I just couldn’t get the speed of the greens all week, and I struggled to see lines and to feel the speed. That was really the story of the week. My putting was so good last week at Caves and then my off the tee play wasn’t good and it sort of just inverted.

“I definitely improved from tee to green this week, and as I said, I just couldn’t get a putt to drop. But my game feels close. It certainly isn’t far away.”

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