Rory McIlroy believes his "game feels close" ahead of next week's Irish Open, with the Ryder Cup looming on the horizon. 

McIlroy finished tied for 23rd at the Tour Championship, an event that saw Tommy Fleetwood break his PGA duck to become the FedEx Cup champion. 

The 36-year-old will also compete in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth next month before aiming to help Team Europe defend their title in New York. 

McIlroy has already won the Irish Open title, with his sole triumph coming at the Kildare venue nine years ago, and he is keen to cement his place at the summit of the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai standings. 

The Northern Irishman is chasing a seventh season-long title to surpass Seve Ballesteros and move within one of matching Colin Montgomerie's record. 

"Those are two big weeks for me to try to extend my lead in the Race to Dubai," said 36-year-old McIlroy.

"That's become a pretty important thing for me. I'm chasing a little bit of history there. I want to put my head down and play well in this next couple of weeks."

Rory McIlroy wins his sixth Race to Dubai title pic.twitter.com/DurBNUiBVx

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McIlroy started well at the Tour Championship with rounds of 66 and 67, before slipping back over the weekend with a 70 and a 71, finishing 12 shots adrift of Fleetwood.

"I hit it better," the five-time major winner said when asked to sum up his week. "The things that I wanted to improve on this week, I did. Off the tee, it was much better.

"I'm probably leading strokes gained off the tee. I just couldn't get the speed of the greens all week, and I struggled to see lines and to feel the speed.

"That was really the story of the week. My putting was so good last week at Caves and then my off-the-tee play wasn't good and it sort of just inverted.

"I definitely improved from tee to green this week, and as I said, I just couldn't get a putt to drop. But my game feels close. It certainly isn't far away."

The Tour Championship saw McIlroy return to Georgia, where in April he finally clinched the Masters title to complete the career Grand Slam.

"I actually did a couple of things for Augusta National this week," he said. "I didn't go there, but there were a couple of things I had to do.

"I had the Green Jacket on for a few hours on Wednesday doing something. It was nice to reminisce. They made me cry again."