Call him the King of Dubai.
After briefly relinquishing his title at last week's Dubai Invitational, Rory McIlroy bounced back on Sunday to win the Hero Dubai Desert Classic for the second year in a row.
This is McIlroy's fourth career victory at the Dubai Desert Classic, the most by any player in the 35-year history of the famous DP World Tour event.
“It's really cool. You know, I didn't really think about it. [potentially being the fourth player to win this tournament] during the round,” McIlroy said of the win.
“It was a really tricky day. It was hard to get a lot of birdies… but it was a great start to the season.”
He shot a 2-under 70 and finished with a total of 14 under, one stroke behind 30-year-old pole player Adrian Melonk.
His march to victory began on the 351-yard par-4 second hole, which McIlroy hit. perfect drive I landed in the middle of the green. He then made a two-putt and got his first birdie of the day.
This put pressure on Cameron Young, the 54-hole leader, who held a one-stroke lead until McIlroy crashed out of the second green.
Young then stumbled with bogeys on the fourth and sixth holes, quickly falling to one point behind McIlroy.
McIlroy held a one-stroke lead until this final combination arrived on the 459-yard dogleg right-hand eighth hole. The Northern Irishman then sunk a 31-foot ball for birdie and extended his lead by two. McIlroy then sank a 16-foot birdie putt on the 9th to extend his lead.
“The key points for me were the eighth and ninth holes,” McIlroy said.
“I made two threes there, so I felt like I was going to take control down the stretch.”
Interestingly, the birdie on number 9 would be the last birdie of the day. He knew he had the lead, so he played very conservatively on the back nine. But on the par-5 13th hole, he duck-hooked his tee shot into the native area to the left of the fairway and almost threw up.
He had to take a provisional bat.
“I made one mistake on the 13th and hit bogey there, but I felt like I steadied the ship the last few holes,” McIlroy said.
“It was one of those days where there weren’t too many fireworks because the course was so difficult, but I held on as best I could and thankfully no one higher up the leaderboard had a great run. did not. “
McIlroy fell back to 14 under after suffering a bogey on the 13th hole, but finished with four consecutive pars to retain the victory. And given the way the day started on Saturday, no one would have thought he would have a chance to defend his title at the Emirates Club.
McIlroy entered the third round 10 strokes behind Young, but shot a 9-under 63 on Saturday to climb onto the leaderboard and join the ranks.
“On Friday night, I thought I had a good chance of winning at 10 under for the weekend,” McIlroy said.
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“I shot 11 under and ended up winning by one. I've been playing this game long enough to know how these things go. Thankfully, the required golf It was just incredible to be able to do that and get my fourth win here at the Emirates.”
The four-time major champion showed off his current form with another great performance in the United Arab Emirates.
McIlroy's next start will be in early February at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the second leg of the 2024 PGA Tour season.
So, world, be careful. McIlroy is playing well and he knows it.
“I know I'm playing good golf,” McIlroy said.
“I still have a few mistakes off the tee. Last week I had 18. [at the Dubai Invitational]. I missed my 13th tee shot today and it cost me a shot… I still have some little things to work on, but the last few weeks have been great. You learn a lot from them and it's obviously great to compete and come out on top. ”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
