One image after another of the poster boy on the 18th green at The Emirates Golf Club reminded us of his X-factor. There was one of Rory McIlroy with the Dubai Desert Classic trophy – a striking, huge Dallah; or, you prefer, an Arabic coffee pot – beside him, four fingers raised to acclaim his feat of winning the title in the desert for a fourth time.
And another with his parents, Rosie on one side, Gerry on the other, as he savoured another memorable moment in time.
McIlroy had trailed leader Cameron Young by 10 shots at the halfway stage of the tournament, only to produce a masterclass 63 in Saturday’s third round to leapfrog up the leaderboard and propel his way into contention. He followed up with a closing 70 for a total of 14-under-par 274, a shot clear of runner-up Adrian Meronk – the win earned him a pay-day of €1.4 million and moved him to number one in the DP World Tour order of merit.
“It’s really cool,” admitted McIlroy of claiming the Dubai Desert Classic title for a record fourth time, although the real significance is that it again jump-started his season in the best possible manner: after a runner-up finish behind Tommy Fleetwood in last week’s seasonal reappearance in the Dubai Invitational, the 34-year-old Northern Irishman bounced back in emphatic fashion over the weekend, to not only play catch-up, but to again assume his place as king of this desert terrain.
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In recalling the arc of his career through the years in Dubai, McIlroy said: “My first Desert Classic [in 2006, as an amateur], I took a media credential and I walked inside the ropes to follow Tiger and Ernie and Thomas Björn, I think, and then just to think about even the arc of that: Thomas Björn is my Ryder Cup captain; I ended up buying Ernie Els’s house; I’ve become really good friends with Tiger Woods. It’s just amazing to think back on the last 18 years and sort of where I find myself.
“I certainly don’t take anything for granted, and I always appreciate the opportunity to be able to do what I do. Yeah, it feels amazing to sit here and have won that big coffee pot four times.”
The win strengthened McIlroy’s position as world number two – and edged him closer to Scottie Scheffler for the top spot in the official world rankings – and finished a highly successful fortnight in the UAE before he heads on to the AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am next month on the PGA Tour as he maps out a busy schedule up to the Masters in April where he will again seek to complete the career Grand Slam with a green jacket.
McIlory’s latest Dubai Desert Classic win – his 34th win worldwide in his career – was remarkable, in that he was tied-24th and 10 shots behind after Friday’s second round. It was after Saturday’s stunning 63 that he also provided an insight into his mindset:
“I think the fact that I turn up every day still trying to get better. I think the consistency that I’ve shown throughout my career, I’ve never lost the hunger to go out and play better. But I’ve also never lost the joy of the game, which I think is really, really important. It’s never felt like a job to me, and the day it does feel like a job is the day I need to give up.”
[ Dubai Desert Classic as it happened: Rory McIlroy wins title for fourth timeOpens in new window ]
Sunday’s final round didn’t have the same fireworks as the third round, but, in that closing 70, there were moments of magic with his back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth providing the critical elements in completing the task. “[Those two birdies] sort of set me up to try to control it on the way in,” admitted McIlroy.
There were a couple of speed bumps coming in, most notably on the 13th – “A blunder,” he said of that bogey – but “steadied the ship” coming in. “It was one of those days where there wasn’t a ton of fireworks just because the course was so difficult but I held on as best as I could and thankfully no one around the top of the leaderboard made much of a run,” said McIlroy.
Having moved to the top of the DP World Tour Race to Dubai standings, with a runner-up and a win in his two weeks in the UAE, McIlroy’s next phase of tournaments will be solely played on the PGA Tour – starting in Pebble Beach in just over two weeks time – with the Masters at the centre of it all.
“Augusta is still a long way away in golfing terms. A lot can change in two-and-a-half months. But it’s always nice to get a win. It’s always nice to feel like you’re playing well going into it. I’ve always said that I’ll take execution over preparation every single time because you just you have to execute the golf shots, especially there,” said McIlroy.
For Tom McKibbin, a final round 70 for 282 saw the 21-year-old Ulsterman claim tied-14th place alongside Tommy Fleetwood. It gave McKibbin a top-15 finish and earned him a pay-day of €129,852 which also moved him up 50 places to 34th on the updated Race to Dubai rankings.
American Cameron Young – who had Dubliner Paul McBride, a former team-mate at Wake Forest back in their student days – shot a final round 74 for 276 for solo third place.
Collated scores
-14 Rory McIlroy (Ireland) 71 70 63 70
-13 Adrian Meronk 68 66 70 71
-12 Cameron Young (USA) 67 64 71 74
-10 Aaron Cockerill (Canada) 71 67 72 68, Pablo Larrazábal (Spain) 73 69 70 66, Joaquin Niemann (Chile) 69 72 67 70
-9 Nicolai Hojgaard (Denmark) 68 69 73 69, Masahiro Kawamura (Japan) 75 63 72 69, Haotong Li (China PR) 67 71 69 72, Adam Scott (Australia) 69 71 70 69
-8 Rasmus Hojgaard (Denmark) 67 70 70 73, Callum Shinkwin (England) 71 68 71 70, Michael Thorbjornsen (USA) 72 70 70 68
-6 Tommy Fleetwood (England) 69 70 70 73, Tom McKibbin (Ireland) 72 70 70 70
-5 Alex Fitzpatrick (England) 69 70 70 74, Zander Lombard (South Africa) 71 67 75 70, Antoine Rozner (France) 75 69 72 67, Shubhankar Sharma (India) 72 71 70 70, Johannes Veerman (USA) 71 73 72 67
-4 Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 72 72 72 68, Thorbjørn Olesen (Denmark) 68 70 71 75, Richie Ramsay (Scotland) 69 68 76 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) 74 67 71 72
-3 Daan Huizing (Netherlands) 70 73 72 70, Romain Langasque (France) 71 70 72 72, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (France) 72 66 77 70, Richard Mansell (England) 68 70 73 74, Guido Migliozzi (Italy) 73 68 75 69, Santiago Tarrio ben (Spain) 71 70 72 72
-2 Rafa Cabrera Bello (Spain) 70 72 70 74, Ryan Fox (New Zealand) 75 67 70 74, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Spain) 68 75 71 72, Tyrrell Hatton (England) 74 68 71 73, Scott Jamieson (Scotland) 69 72 69 76, Maximilian Kieffer (Germany) 73 70 69 74, Jesper Svensson (Sweden) 76 68 72 70
-1 Alejandro Del Rey (Spain) 72 68 70 77, Jayden Schaper (South Africa) 73 71 73 70, Dale Whitnell (England) 73 69 70 75
Even Manuel Elvira (Spain) 71 69 76 72, Nacho Elvira (Spain) 75 69 74 70, Dylan Frittelli (South Africa) 74 70 71 73, Calum Hill (Scotland) 72 71 73 72, Casey Jarvis (South Africa) 72 72 73 71, Matthew Jordan (England) 71 73 69 75, Søren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 68 74 69 77, Jordan Smith (England) 74 67 73 74, Sebastian Soderberg (Sweden) 72 69 71 76, Paul Waring (England) 74 67 74 73
+1 Todd Clements (England) 73 70 73 73, Hennie Du Plessis (South Africa) 71 68 74 76, Grant Forrest (Scotland) 70 71 73 75, Marcus Helligkilde (Denmark) 72 70 74 73, Connor Syme (Scotland) 74 69 72 74
+2 Jorge Campillo (Spain) 74 70 75 71, Nathan Kimsey (England) 74 69 75 72, James Morrison (England) 70 72 72 76, Lukas Nemecz (Austria) 69 72 74 75, Adrian Otaegui (Spain) 75 69 73 73, Marcel Siem (Germany) 72 67 76 75, Louis de Jager (South Africa) 68 70 76 76
+3 Nick Bachem (Germany) 73 70 73 75, Matthys Daffue (South Africa) 71 71 73 76, Niklas Norgaard (Denmark) 73 69 76 73
+4 Luke Donald (England) 71 71 75 75, Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) 73 66 73 80, Andy Sullivan (England) 67 67 78 80, Jeff Winther (Denmark) 70 74 73 75
+6 Ugo Coussaud (France) 69 73 76 76, Julien Guerrier (France) 73 68 76 77, Brian Harman (USA) 71 71 76 76, Jeong weon Ko (France) 69 74 77 74
+8 Ricardo Gouveia (Portugal) 74 70 76 76
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