Rory McIlroy fired an ominous warning to his DP World Tour rivals as he insisted he has at least another ten years left at the very top after winning his fifth Harry Vardon Trophy.
The Northern Irishman won the 2023 Race to Dubai with a week to spare in a season that has seen him win two Rolex Series events, secure three top tens in Major Championships and miss just one cut on the DP World Tour.
Adding to his victories in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2022, he is now third on the all-time list, just one short of the late, great Seve Ballesteros and three behind the record of Colin Montgomerie.
And the 34-year-old insists he has no intention of slowing down as he looks to add to his five Rankings titles, 16 DP World Tour wins and four Major Championships.
"I've still got a little bit left in the tank," he said after his final round at the DP World Tour Championship. "I think I've still got a good eight to ten years left in me where I can play at the top, top level.
"I'd like to think that I'm going to challenge, at least try to get past Seve and then sort of try to get past Monty as well. But it's certainly a goal of mine for the rest of my career to do something like that. It would mean a lot to me.
"I think it shows my consistency year-to-year. I think over the last ten years, I think I've won eight season-long titles between America and between here, so it just shows my level of consistency.
"I said to Harry (Diamond, caddie) on the last green, there's a few guys that are able to beat me sort of one week or the next week but I don't think there's a lot of people that can beat me throughout the entire season.
"It's just about trying to be a little more clinical when I get to those weeks where I have chances to win.
"Overall, it's been another really solid year. Stroke average has been great and I've played really good golf, really consistent. Hopefully more of the same going into next year and beyond."
McIlroy's January victory at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic was his first Rolex Series win since the blue riband events started in 2017 and he followed it up with a win in his next Rolex Series start at the Genesis Scottish Open.
"When I won my first in Dubai at the start of the year, Harry said to me: 'It took you long enough', because every time we would go out and play with someone, the caddies would have a gold bib and he wouldn't," said McIlroy. "He was like: 'When am I going to get a gold bib?'."
"So it was nice to finally win one of those in Dubai and follow it up in Scotland, which is probably one of the best finishes I've ever had in a golf tournament. That was an unbelievable finish those last two holes.
"It was great to do that and obviously those tournaments combined with my good play in the Majors and the World Match Play sort of got me to a point where it made these last few weeks a little more comfortable."
