DUBAI — Rory McIlroy has hailed Colin Montgomerie as the world No. 2 vies to equal the European Tour legend's haul of eight order of merit titles.

McIlroy is second in the Race to Dubai standings heading into the season finale, which begins at Jumeirah Golf Estates on Thursday. He trails Eugenio Chacarra by 534 points, but a whopping 2,000 will go to the winner at the Earth Course, and McIlroy fancies his chances of a fifth successive DP World Tour season-long title.

Equaling Montgomerie's record would add another line to McIlroy's sparkling resume, and it would further enhance his bid to go down as the greatest European golfer of all time.

McIlroy has fond memories of Montgomerie's playing days, during which he won 54 times worldwide and played starring roles in European Ryder Cup triumphs. The only thing missing for the Scotsman, McIlroy says, was the major victory that his talent merited.

"I'll always remember that driver he hit off the deck in Dubai at the Desert Classic in '96 to win that tournament. He was my first Ryder Cup Captain," McIlroy said.

"I remember going to watch him at the Volvo World Match Play at Wentworth over the years as a kid. I played the Junior Ryder Cup in 2004 and then the Ryder Cup was at Oakland Hills. I remember Monty being amazing that week. He held this massive putt on 18th green. I was at the back of the green.

"He was a stalwart for European Tour golf, and was super successful and had a lot of longevity. He played the game at a very high level for a very long time, and was obviously unbelievably consistent in terms of winning.

"He won eight of them, seven in a row, a very, very impressive player. I guess the only thing that was missing from that list was a major championship, but he basically did everything else that there was to do in the game."

McIlroy has an outstanding record at the Earth Course, winning three times, and a fourth would assure him of an historic Race to Dubai victory.

He entered the playoffs in third place, but leapfrogged Patrick Reed in Abu Dhabi last week after a third-place finish at Yas Links, and he believes his wealth of experience at this course could be decisive.

"I'm very excited to be back here, and very excited to be in contention for the eighth. I made some ground up last week, maybe not as much as I wanted, but I felt like it was a step in the right direction," he said.

"Getting back to a place where I have played well, and I had a lot of success, even last year in the playoff with Matt [Fitzpatrick]. It's been a course that's been very good to me over the years.

"I have a lot of experience on it and a lot of experience up at the top end of the leaderboard. Experience going out in that final group on a Thursday. I'm excited to do it all over again and try to play well enough to give myself a real chance at the weekend.

"I think when you come back to a golf course that you played a lot on and you've done well on, that always gives you a little bit of an advantage starting the week."