An excellent final round of 67 saw Jon Rahm seal the third DP World Tour Championship of his career on Sunday.

The Spaniard finished on 20 under par, winning by two shots ahead of Tyrell Hatton and Alex Noren in Dubai and four ahead of Rory McIlroy, who had something to celebrate of his own with his fourth-place finish.

As a result, McIlroy ends the year as DP World Tour number one for a fourth time, winning the Harry Vardon Trophy.

Rahm looked to be in the mood to secure victory after recording birdies on each of the first three holes, only to bogey the fourth, leaving Noren breathing down his neck as the Swede also started brightly to go within one of the lead.

Things turned on the seventh hole though as Noren dropped a shot, before Rahm gained one to extend his advantage to three.

Hatton went on to set the clubhouse lead at 18 under, but Rahm did not drop another shot as he tidied up his round with further birdies at the 13th and 15th before confirming his win with a simple par on the 18th.

After his victory, Rahm said it was a "very" special one, adding: "Because of coronavirus I never got the chance to defend my 2019 title, even though I decided not to come last year I came in with the mentality [this year] that nobody beat me in the last two years, so they're gonna have to beat me again.

"I like this course and this course likes me, so I hope this is the third of many more."

McIlroy was equally pleased with his own award, with the world number one becoming just the second player in history to win the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup and the DP World Tour order of merit in the same season.

After his final round of 68, McIlroy said: "It means a lot, it's been seven years since I've last done it [finished top of European Tour rankings] and obviously this is my fourth one.

"I was a model of consistency through the year, a lot of top finishes, I think my worst finish was 12th in Abu Dhabi, so just a really consistent season, kept putting in good performances; it would have been nice to get one win in there at the end of the year here but Jon played an incredible tournament and fully deserved it."

Elsewhere, English pair Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick finished joint-fifth on 13 under, while Dane Rasmus Hoejgaard shot 67 to move up to joint-seventh with Pole Adrian Meronk on 11 under.

Tony Finau is one of four players with a share of the lead after finishing Thursday's opening round of the Houston Open with a five-under 65.

Finau is joined by fellow Americans Aaron Wise and Tyson Alexander, as well as Sweden's Alex Noren, although Alexander still has one hole to play as the late-starters had their rounds cut short when darkness halted the action.

Ranked 15th in the world, Finau caught fire on his second nine, posting five birdies from his final eight holes to fly up the leaderboard.

Canadian duo Taylor Pendrith and Mackenzie Hughes headline the logjam tied for fifth at four under, with England's Justin Rose part of the 10-player group one further back at three under.

It was a rough day out for the big names in the field, with world number two Scottie Scheffler and former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama shooting even-par 70s to finish the round tied for 53rd.

That pairing at least remain in the hunt, which is more than can be said for last week's winner of the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, with Russell Henley struggling on his way to two over.

Another former Masters champion had a tough time, with Danny Willett unlikely to make the cut after his five-over 75, while world number 12 and recent Presidents Cup debutant Sam Burns had a day to forget, shooting seven over.

Ryan Fox held his nerve to claim his second DP World Tour win of the year after posting a four-under final round to take the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship by a single stroke.

The New Zealander clawed back a four-shot deficit to pick up his third tour title on the Old Course at St Andrews, edging out Callum Shinkwin and Alex Noren for top spot with a total of 15 under par.

Fox took advantage of a final-day collapse from overnight leader Richard Mansell, who blew his sizeable advantage with a closing 76 to fall back into a tie for seventh. 

Despite three bogeys, the 35-year-old kept his composure with seven birdie finishes across the day, enough to see off challenges from Englishman Shinkwin and Sweden's Noren in the closing stages.

The trio just beat out Rory McIlroy, with the FedEx Cup Champion posting the second-best round of the day on six under to come home in fourth, on the course where he narrowly lost the Open Championship earlier this year.

The Northern Irishman carded 75 on Friday to effectively take him out of the running, though his impressive rally was bettered only by South African George Coetzee, who managed an impressive seven-under 65.

Victory caps a bumper year for Fox, who reached a highest world ranking of 46 in July and romped to a five-stroke victory at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic back in February.

His only other tour title came in 2019, when he claimed the Perth International.

Patrick Reed and Alex Noren carded eight-under 64s to share the lead after the opening round of the Farmers Insurance Open.

Reed, who missed the cut at last week's The American Express, produced a bogey-free first round on the North Course at Torrey Pines on Thursday.

The American made three straight birdies after starting his round at the 10th and had another run of three straight on his back nine, tying the second-lowest first-round score of his PGA Tour career.

Reed shares a one-stroke lead with Noren, the 2018 runner-up who also fired a 64 on the North Course.

A former top-10 player, Noren has dropped to 96th in the rankings after going winless since 2018.

Scottie Scheffler is outright third after his 65, while 12 players opened with 66s – with only Peter Malnati and Ryan Palmer, who was runner-up alongside Noren three years ago, playing the South Course of that group.

K.J. Choi, 50, is also among that group after a bogey-free round that featured six birdies, as the two-time runner-up – whose last win was in 2012 – surprised.

Beau Hossler, Talor Gooch, Luke List, Sam Burns, Gary Woodland, Lanto Griffin, Rhein Gibson, Cameron Smith and Brandon Hagy are also tied for fourth.

Rory McIlroy made a solid start with a four-under 68 on the South Course, while 2017 winner Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth opened with 69s.

Brooks Koepka is in a tie for 88th after an even-par 72, while two-time champion Jason Day endured a tough opening round, mixing a double bogey with six bogeys and four birdies to shoot a 76.

Richy Werenski, meanwhile, carded a 69 that included a hole-in-one at the third hole on the South Course, having also managed an ace in the final round of last year's event.

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