Danny Willett was left thrilled with his performance after leaving it late to snatch a narrow victory at the Dubai Desert Classic.
Willett holed a 15-foot birdie at the last to card a three-under 69 and finish 19 under par, one shot ahead of Andy Sullivan and playing partner Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
Last year's Race to Dubai runner-up had seen a three-shot lead disappear over his closing holes, but was pleased with how he stayed strong to hold off the chasing pack.
"You'd love to win by five or six every time you win, but when you win like that in that fashion, it does feel that little bit extra special," Willett told the post-tournament press conference.
"It's obviously a relatively daunting last hole. I'm delighted with, like I say, with how I dug in and obviously found it [the 18th cup].
"Everything I've done has been really good this week and mentally I think I've been as good as I have for a long, long time. I've stayed patient and let things happen."
Victory is Willett's fourth on the European Tour and lifts him inside the world's top 15, with the Englishman now targeting more success in what could be a packed year ahead.
"It's nice to know that the stuff I'm doing is working with my schedule choice, obviously choosing not to accept a PGA Tour card and trying to stay over here in Europe," Willett added.
"It's good to get off to a quick start because it's going to give me some key time off with Nicki's [his wife] birth, and obviously we're going to be well up there in the World Rankings for Rio and for The Ryder Cup.
"It's still early days to talk about the Race to Dubai, but we've certainly put ourselves nicely up there to fight for the top again."
For Sullivan, it was the second straight runner-up finish in Dubai, having finished behind McIlroy at the DP World Tour Championship in November.
"Fair play to Danny, that was a tough putt," Sullivan said after narrowly missing out. "I didn't feel like I put him under enough pressure through the midpoint of the round
"I had a lot of chances and didn't quite take them. The putts towards the end kept me in it and when you hole that putt on the last, you feel you've given yourself a sneaky chance.
"But Danny is a quality player and you expect him to step up, and he did. It [the final round] was fantastic though, with the adrenaline and the emotions going through it, it was good fun."
The European Tour heads back to South Africa next for the Tshwane Open. Watch all week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf