The DP World Tour has announced the creation of the “Rory McIlroy Award” to commemorate the Northern Irish golfer’s Grand Slam success.
The new award, for which McIlroy is ineligible, will reward the best performance by a European player over the course of the year’s four majors.
It follows McIlroy becoming the sixth player — and first European — to complete a career Grand Slam after his Masters success earlier this year.
The first winner of the award will be crowned at the 2026 Open Championship.
McIlroy is just the fifth player to have a European Tour award named in his honour, following on from Seve Ballesteros, Harry Vardon, Sir Henry Cotton and John Jacobs.
“To have something named after you, that will be presented to future generations of players, is a huge honour and it is very humbling,” McIlroy said.
“It certainly means a lot to me because the DP World Tour was where I started my career. I’ve always loved playing on it and, of course, representing Europe and the Tour in the Ryder Cup.
“I’m incredibly proud to be the first European to achieve the Career Grand Slam. The Majors represent the pinnacle of our sport, and I hope my success can inspire other DP World Tour members to chase and achieve their own dreams for years to come.
“I look forward to seeing who becomes the first recipient of this new award in 2026 and it will be another very proud moment for me personally to present the trophy to them.”
McIlroy, meanwhile, believes stepping away from involvement in the sport’s politics has improved his golf and personal happiness.
At the height of the fall out from the fracture caused by LIV Golf, the Northern Irishman found himself the unofficial spokesman for the PGA Tour, fielding questions on it at every event and, as a member of the Tour’s policy board, being involved in behind-the-scenes discussions.
But McIlroy has taken a back seat since standing down in November 2023, winning seven times including the Grand Slam-competing Masters victory.
“From a golfing perspective, stepping away from the politics and being intimately involved, it’s definitely made me happier from a golfing perspective,” McIlroy said.
“When I was on the board, I was clued in, I talked to people, I got different opinions but at the same time I felt like it was taking away from some of the other things I want to do in my life.
“You can’t keep all the plates spinning at the same time and something had to give. If you look at my golf since then, it’s been a pretty good run.
“I have a clear head and I’m out of all the political stuff in golf, basically, and I can just focus on playing and making myself competitively happy by playing in the tournaments that I want to play.
“And having more time to make myself personally happy doing things I want to do away from golf, travelling with my family and showing my daughter different parts of the world, is a very nice place to be in life.”
McIlroy is chasing a fourth-successive Race to Dubai title this week and a seventh Order of Merit in total, which would surpass Seve Ballesteros and put him just one behind Colin Montgomerie.
Marco Penge and Ryder Cup teammate Tyrrell Hatton are the only two players who can stop him at the DP World Tour Championship.
Despite being based in the United States, McIlroy has maintained strong links with the DP World Tour he still considers ‘home’ and he called on other players to “step up” their support.
“With the fractured nature of the men’s professional game at the minute, this tour needs all of its stars to step up and play in the big events,” McIlroy added.
“I feel quite a responsibility to do that and to try to make this tour as strong as it can possibly be.”
Tommy Fleetwood, another one of those stars, has defended himself against accusations of gamesmanship last week.
The Southport golfer was criticised by television commentators after leaving fellow Englishman and eventual winner Aaron Rai waiting on the tee for their play-off at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
“I feel like it’s disappointing. I would hope everybody knows that I wouldn’t do anything like that and I think the world of Aaron as well,” he said.
“We walked off the 18th and I was desperate to go to the toilet … I ran to the toilet; ran to the tee.”
DP World have extended their title sponsorship of the tour until 2035.
