Rory McIlroy fended off the challenge of Justin Rose to register his first professional win on the European Tour after a final round in Dubai that must have put years on the young Irishman. The 19-year-old carded a final round two-under-par 70 to finish at 19 under as Rose fell just short after five under 67 at Emirates Golf Club.
McIlroy led by six with six to play after reeling of four straight birdies from the ninth but three bogeys in three holes saw Rose move to within one of his playing partner standing on the final tee.
Former Order of Merit winner Rose had a chance to force at least a play-off with a 15-foot birdie putt at the last but missed allowing McIlroy to roll home a four-foot par putt.
The win elevates McIlroy to 14th in the world and makes him the seventh youngest winner in European Tour history.
Dubai-based Swede Henrik Stenson (67) finished third at 17 under, with Robert Karlsson (65), Martin Kaymer (67) and Paul Casey (68) a further shot adrift in fifth.
“This win has definitely moved me up a step and just want to keep getting better and better,” said McIlroy afterwards. “Your success only makes you more motivated to do better. I have become a very good player, but I still have a lot of years to progress and I just want to keep improving and hopefully one day I will be able to compete with Tiger (Woods).
“I will have to reassess my goals, but I will just go out every week and try and get myself into contention going into the back nine on Sunday and that’s my goal every week.”
McIlroy also held a six-stroke lead after picking up birdies in each of his opening three holes but a wobble in the middle of his front nine briefly left him just one ahead before five straight birdies from the ninth set him up for a seemingly straightforward win.
But after three bogeys in three holes handed Rose hope and after he hit his approach shot over the final green and into a bunker, the Northern Irishman looked on course for another near-miss after losing two play-offs last year.
But McIlroy held his nerve to chip out to four feet and after watching Rose miss his chance, steadied himself to claim cheque for €323,514 and move up to second place on the Race to Dubai with his fourth top-10 finish of the young season.
“You watch it on TV and you see guys coming down the stretch with a four- or five-shot lead and you think it’s easy, but it’s not,” he said.
“You still have to play the shots and hole the putts. I got myself into a great position in the middle of the back nine, but Justin fought back. But it was nice to hold it together on the last and get a great up and down.
“It’s definitely a burden off my shoulders.
“If I hadn’t won having a six-shot lead it would have been pretty hard to take and pretty hard to come back from. But I was able to scrape in at the end. It’s not about how many but how in the end.
“All these situations I have put myself in is all experience and I am gathering them all in. Obviously all the experiences I have had in the past helped me today and hopefully this experience will help me in the future.”
The leaderboard will make welcome reading for new Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie with Miguel Angel Jimenez (66) finishing tied for seventh with world number two Sergio Garcia (67) just outside the top 10.
Montgomerie signed for a final round 67, which included six birdies over his back nine, to finish tied for 13th at 11 under alongside Ross Fisher, Qatar Masters winner Alvaro Quiros and Anders Hansen.
Gary Murphy and Graeme McDowell were next best of the Irish on six under, while Darren Clarke finished on one over and Gareth Maybin on four over.
Meanwhile, English amateur Matthew Turner finished a credible 51st at level par after a final round 75.
Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Dubai Desert Classic, Emirates GC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold,
par 72)
269 Rory McIlroy 64 68 67 70
270Justin Rose 68 66 69 67
271Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 65 71 67
272Paul Casey 68 68 68 68, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 65 71 71 65, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 70 67 68 67
275Anthony Wall 70 68 68 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 70 67 66, Scott Strange (Aus) 69 71 66 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 65 68 74
276Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 66 73 67, Richard Green (Aus) 71 63 69 73
277Ross Fisher 72 69 67 69, Colin Montgomerie 70 70 70 67, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 70 68 75 64
278Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 68 72 69, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 71 65 71, Oliver Wilson 71 68 73 66, Bradley Dredge 73 68 71 66
279Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 69 70 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 67 66 73
280Alexander Noren (Swe) 67 71 70 72, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 69 73 70 68
282Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 71 72 68, Graeme McDowell 70 72 72 68, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 72 72 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 72 72 69, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 67 72 72, Gary Murphy 75 68 68 71, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 66 70 73 73, Mark Foster 69 74 66 73
283Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 69 72 69 73, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72 68 72 71, Simon Dyson 71 68 73 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 67 68 72 76
284Hennie Otto (Rsa) 69 73 69 73, Gary Orr 71 70 71 72 ,Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 70 72 72 70
285Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 74 69 70 72, Mark Brown (USA) 70 73 73 69, Lee Westwood 70 70 73 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 70 71 75, Simon Wakefield 73 70 69 73
286Brett Rumford (Aus) 73 70 72 71, Stephen Dodd 71 69 73 73 ,Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 73 68 73 72
287Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 71 73 72, Richard Finch 71 71 71 74, Alastair Forsyth 71 70 75 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 71 73 73
288Matthew Turner 70 72 71 75, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 67 72 76 73, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 70 71 76 71
289 Darren Clarke 74 69 72 74, Graeme Storm 68 70 77 74, Paul Broadhurst 70 70 72 77
290Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 69 71 77 73, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 74 69 73 74
291Paul Waring 67 73 77 74
292Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 72 71 76 73, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 70 76 73, Gareth Maybin 70 70 77 75, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 72 71 74 75
293Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 72 78 72
294Lee Slattery 69 74 76 75, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 68 77 76
296Paul Lawrie 68 75 74 79
301Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 72 82 77
