By Rahul Banerji
World number one Rory McIlroy outlasted a hard-charging Patrick Reed to win his third Hero Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club on Monday.
The Northern Ireland golfer came into a weather-delayed final day leading the field by a comfortable three shots but was put under intense pressure by Reed, especially over the closing stretch.
McIlroy later called it one of the toughest rounds he had played in terms of mentally staying strong.
In the end, he needed a 14-and-a-half-foot putt on the 72nd hole at the event that stretched into a fifth day after rain disrupted the schedule over the first two days.
McIlroy’s 68 on Monday saw him finish on 19 under par 269 while Reed (65) was just one shot behind.
“I think mentally today was probably one of the toughest rounds I’ve ever had to play,” McIlroy said later.
“It would be really easy to let your emotions get in the way and I just had to really concentrate on focusing on myself. Forget who was up there on the leaderboard, and I did that really, really well.
Mentally strong
“I feel like I showed a lot of mental strength out there today, and again, something to really build on for the rest of the year.
“It was a battle all day. Honestly, it’s been a battle all week. I really feel like I haven’t had my best but I just managed my game well and played really smart.
“There’s been a ton of positives this week but also been some things that I need to learn from and I need to try to improve on.”
Past Dubai winner Lucas Herbert took third place with a closing 66, while England’s Callum Shinkwin (69) was fourth.
McIlroy received the trophy from Dr Pawan Munjal, chairman and CEO of Hero MotoCorp, with whom he had played the Pro-Am earlier in the week.
First one
It was a first Rolex series win for McIlroy and the third win at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on a day of some drama.
Reed made an early charge with three birdies in his first six holes to catch McIlroy who had no birdies over the first eight holes.
McIlroy birdied twice in a row but an eagle meant Reed was right up there and even briefly held the lead when the Northern Irishman dropped a shot on the back nine.
The American though was to bogey the next hole leaving both players in 17 under with two holes to go, though they were in separate flights.
McIlroy reached the final green tied on 18-under with Reed who had finished with a birdie in the group immediately ahead.
In 2022, McIlroy lost out to Viktor Hovland when he found the water with his approach shot. On Monday he opted to play safe, laying up and reaching the green in three before closing out with a close to 15-foot birdie.
It was the first time McIlroy has won his first event of the year and takes his tally of DP World Tour wins to 15 at the scene of his first, which came 13 years and 363 days ago.
Good showing
In all, four LIV golfers – Reed, Ian Poulter and Richard Bland of England and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson –finished in the top 10 of the DP World (European) Tour event.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” McIlroy said.
“This is probably sweeter than it should be or needs to be, but I feel like I’ve still got some stuff to work on. It’s a great start to the year and a really good foundation to work from.
“It’s never easy closing out a golf tournament. There’s always going to be people that make runs, and you know, playing when you’re defending a lead or have a lead, you’re always going to play a little more carefully than the guys that are coming up behind you.”
“Obviously I felt them closing in, and on the back nine when Patrick drew level with me, I really needed to dig deep.
“I thought I had sort of blown my chance with the bogey on 15. But thankfully, he bogeyed 16, and then I played a great last couple of holes, great tee shot on 17, good two-putt and got up-and-down at the last.”
Also read: Sharma looks for strong start at Hero Dubai Desert Classic
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