McIlroy fighting to remain fit

Luke Donald's chances of being the first golfer to secure Order of Merit money-list titles on either side of the Atlantic in the same year were handed a major boost yesterday, with late challenger Rory McIlroy seemingly laid low by fatigue. The Northern Irishman, who won last weekend's Hong Kong Open to edge within touching distance of England's Donald, would snatch the Race to Dubai from the US PGA Order of Merit winner if he wins this weekend's season-ending $7.5 million (Dh27.54 million) Dubai World Championship and Donald finishes outside the top nine. Narrow margin A minuscule €5 (Dh24.65) will be all that's in the Race to Dubai should McIlroy win and Donald finish tied for ninth. But whatever happens over four days at the par 72, 7,675-yard Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates from Thursday, Donald's World Number One spot will remain intact, despite an impressive incline from McIlroy in recent weeks. But ironically it's this late flurry that seems to have unravelled McIlroy's chances of catching Donald, with the 22-year-old US Open winner now playing down his chances this weekend due to illness. "I'm not, energy-wise, where I want to be — [I'll] really try and conserve my energy and focus that into the four tournament days. I'm not 100 per cent, but I'm still able to go out and play 18 holes and try and give it my all," said McIlroy, who is experiencing a low white blood cell count. "I visited a doctor yesterday and had some blood tests done, but I won't get the results back until later on this week." Speaking of his gruelling schedule in recent weeks — winning in Shanghai and Hong Kong while Donald had time off for the birth of his second child — McIlroy said: "It's definitely the longest stretch I've ever played. It's something I probably won't do again. But it's something I wanted to do. "I have no one to blame but myself for wanting to play and wanting to go week after week. It's something you won't see me do next year for sure." Asked if he had considered pulling out of Dubai, McIlroy, who finished fifth here last year, said: "I don't like pulling out of tournaments. Even if I don't have a chance to win, I'd still play. It's a big tournament, a lot of World Ranking points and there's still a lot to play for. Taking his chance "[I've] still got a slim chance of trying to win The Race to Dubai — I've got to win and Luke has to finish outside the top nine. I'm not really counting on him to do that because he's only finished outside the top ten about twice this year." McIlroy added: "It would obviously rank second after winning my first major [the US Open]. But there's a long way to go before any of that happens. I need to play very well to beat a top-class field — the top four players in the world are here, and the top 60 in Europe, so it's going to be a very tough ask. "As I said, Luke has not finished outside the top nine very often this year. But if it was to happen, it would be a great achievement. It would be a great way to finish the year, which has been my most successful season to date. It would set me up nicely for 2012."