Rory McIlroy not giving up on catching Molinari

Rory McIlroy is confident he can push his Ryder Cup team-mate Francesco Molinari all the way in the Race to Dubai.

The Northern Irishman is preparing to take his place in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City South Africa this weekend and he is hoping to pick up a rare European Tour win, with his last success on the European tour coming back in 2016 at the Irish Open.

If McIlroy were to come out on top, it would heap the pressure on the Italian as the Race to Dubai battle intensifies.

McIlroy is currently sat in eighth place in the European rankings, almost two million euros behind his rival, but a win in South Africa would propel him up to second ahead of the final event of the season next week.

He would then go out with Molinari, who’s not playing in South Africa, as the final pair in the DP World Tour championship – the final event on the European tour calendar this season.

“My thing is I’m coming here with the goal that, if I can get into that final group on Thursday with Frankie next week, that would be a good start, McIlroy said.

“I’m going to need some great golf over the next two weeks, but we’ll see what happens this week. I feel like my game is in pretty good shape.

“I didn’t play great in China but I’ve had a week off and just sort of reflecting on things. Hopefully I can get off to a good start this week.”