The 44-year-old, who had already climbed into the top spot among Australian men on the world rankings at No. 20, shot a closing 68 at Jumeirah Golf Estates to slide into the top three behind winner Rory McIlroy and Rasmus Hojgaard.

Had the eagle putt from 15 feet that missed the left side of the hole by a fraction on Sunday dropped in, he would have been within a shot of McIlroy, who almost simultaneously birdied the par-4 16^th hole and then iced his win with another birdie at the 18^th.

McIlroy won both the tournament and the season-long Race to Dubai bonus prize, his sixth season triumph in Europe. Only Colin Montgomerie (eight) has more titles.

Scott has had an excellent but in some ways quirky year, with four top-10s on the DP World Tour and more than €2 million in earnings without a win in 11 starts, finishing eighth on the tour’s points standings. On the PGA Tour, he was twice runner-up and made 17 cuts in 19 events.

His most recent victory around the world was the Cathedral Invitational at home in 2023, and overseas he has not won since the Genesis Invitational in the US in 2020.

But he shows few signs of slowing up.

Meanwhile in the US, Minjee Lee shored up her place in the LPGA Tour’s CME Group Tour Championship in Florida this week by finishing tied-14^th in The Annika tournament behind rampant Nelly Korda, who won her seventh event of the season.

Lee, a former world No. 2 and twice a major champion, began the week in 56^th on the points rankings, needing to be inside the top 60 to get to Florida where the prize pool this week is $US10 million.

But she is safely inside at 54^th after Sunday’s finish.

Hannah Green (who had a rare missed cut this weekend), Gabi Ruffels and Grace Kim have all qualified for the season-ender, but Steph Kyriacou’s missed cut saw her slide from 60^th to 62^nd and out of the tour championship field.

On the Asian Tour, Jack Thompson finished tied-fifth in Taiwan.

Kiwi Steve Alker won the Mexican Senior Open on the Legends Tour with a closing 66.

PHOTO: Adam Scott on his way to a T3 finish in Dubai to finish his year. Image: Getty

Results

DP World Tour

DP World Tour Championship

Jumeirah Golf Estates, Earth course, Dubai, UAE

1 Rory McIlroy 67-69-68-69 – 273 €2,842,443

T3 Adam Scott 69-71-69-68 – 277 €525,220

T24 Min Woo Lee 70-72-73-70 – 285 €74,732

PGA TOUR

Butterfield Bermuda Championship

Port Royal Golf Course, Southhampton, Bermuda

1 Rafael Campos 70-65-62-68 – 265 $US 1.242m

T70 Aaron Baddeley 73-66-73-74 – 286 $14,007

LPGA Tour

The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican

Pelican Golf Club, Belleair, Florida

1 Nelly Korda  66-66-67-67 – 266 $US 487,500

T14 Minjee Lee 66-69-69-70 – 274 $44,442

T14 Lydia Ko (NZ) 71-69-65-69 – 274 $44,442

T32 Gabriela Ruffels 68-69-71-70 – 278 $23,391

T69 Hira Naveed 72-69-73-77 – 291 $6672

MC Robyn Choi 68-75 – 143

MC Hannah Green 74-70 – 144

MC Stephanie Kyriacou 73-73 – 146

Asian Tour

Taiwan Glass Taifong Open

Taifong Golf Club, Taiwan

1 Suteepat Prateeptienchai 67-63-68-68 – 266  $US 72,000

T5 Jack Thompson 64-65-73-70 – 272  $14,860

T26 Justin Warren 70-69-71-70 – 280  $3520

T51 Zach Murray 69-73-76-68 – 286 $1640

68 Aaron Wilkin  71-71-76-74 – 292  $960

MC Sam Brazel 79-66 – 145

Japan Golf Tour

Dunlop Phoenix Tournament

Phoenix Country Club, Miyazaki

1 – Max McGreevy 66-62-65-69 – 262 ¥40,000

MC Michael Hendry (NZ) 73-71 – 144

Legends Tour

WCM Mexico Senior Open

Punta Mita Golf Club, Nayarit, Mexico

1 Steven Alker (NZ) 66-67-66-199

T34 Michael Campbell (NZ)  71-73-71 – 215

T40 Michael Long (NZ) 71-71-75 – 217