Aaron Rai held his nerve to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Sunday, beating Tommy Fleetwood on the first playoff hole after a dramatic final day.
The 30-year-old sunk a birdie from just over eight feet to seal victory, emulating his only previous Rolex Series win. That came at the 2020 Scottish Open, and was also a playoff victory over Fleetwood.
Rai went into the final round with a one-shot lead over fellow Englishman Fleetwood and Denmarkâ€s Nicolai Højgaard. He emerged with a total of 263 after a topsy-turvy, five-under final round that included seven birdies and two bogeys.
Fleetwood moved one shot clear with two holes to play after a birdie on the 16th, but Rai pulled level again on the 17th and then missed a 10-foot birdie putt to win outright on the last. That set up a playoff at Yas Links where Rai prevailed to win the title and $1.5m (£1.13m) in prize money.
“Tommy is a phenomenal player and an even better person. To play with him the last two days was really special,†said Rai, the current world No 30. “Youâ€re so focused on playing the round and staying in the zone, itâ€s hard to put into words at the moment how it feels. It is amazing to be stood here.â€
Rory McIlroy left himself just too much to do, coming up one shot short in a tie for third place with Højgaard, after a stunning 10-under final round of 62. It was McIlroyâ€s lowest-ever round on the DP World Tour, comprising eight birdies and an eagle.
skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to Sport in Focus
Sign up to Sport in Focus
Privacy Notice:Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
Højgaard fired six birdies of his own, but his hopes of topping the leaderboard were hit by a bogey on the 12th. Englandâ€s Richard Mansell hit an excellent final-round 63 to finish tied for fifth place with Australiaâ€s Daniel Hillier.
Discover more from 6up.net
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.