Golf:England's Robert Rock claimed the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship this afternoon, when winning by one shot ahead of Ireland's Rory McIlroy, whose two-stroke penalty on Friday proved very costly in the end.
With only one win from his previous 226 European Tour events, the 34-year-old Rock carded a bogey at the last which dropped him to within one of McIlroy and two of Graeme McDowell, Tiger Woods and Thomas Bjorn.
Rock, ranked 117th in the world prior to the weekend, was two ahead on the tee at the par five 18th, but pushed his drive into the foliage in a hazard on the right.
He chose to take a penalty drop knowing that a six would be good enough, unless Woods eagled. With the American failing to pitch in after going in the rough, a two-putt bogey did indeed complete the greatest day of his 14-year professional career.
McIlroy birdied the last for a 69 to be runner-up for the second year in a year, but after three impressive rounds Woods was very unsure of himself on the final day and somehow he managed a 72.
"I really can't believe I have done that today," Rock said on Sky Sportsafterwards. "I was just very happy to be playing with Tiger. That's a special honour in itself."
Woods admitted he was "just a touch off" after hitting only one fairway on the back nine and only six greens in regulation all day.
"But Robert played great," he said. "He made a couple of key up-and-downs and a couple of beautiful iron shots down the stretch."
For years Rock worked in the Swingers Golf Centre in Tamworth, "selling Mars bars and watching Tiger win majors". He was 26 before he made it onto the European Tour and 31 when he finally tasted success at last year's Italian Open.
"It's been a steady progression and I've worked hard, but I didn't think this would happen," he said.
In addition to Woods all the world's top four were present. Number one Luke Donald managed only 48th, while Lee Westwood's 17th place means McIlroy regains second spot off his former stablemate.
Every one of Woods's 14 major titles came with him at least sharing the lead with a round to go and this was only the ninth time in his entire career that he has not gone on to victory from such a position.
He was odds-on to come out on top again when he birdied the second and third, but Rock matched both of them and the American's bogeys at the next two separated them.
After a seven-foot birdie on the sixth the gap was three, but by the turn it was back to one. Rock ran up a six at the long eighth and Woods birdied the next.
That made him favourite again, but a bogey six on the 582-yard 10th was his only deviation from par on the back nine.
There was still a chance Rock might crack after bogeying the 13th, but his response was superb and after the scare down the last the €347,000 first prize became his.
The most dramatic finish, however, came from McDowell. He holed-in-one on the 12th - Sergio Garcia and Jose Manuel Lara did it in the first round - chipped in on the next and then closed with two more birdies.
That does not tell the full story. The Ulsterman thinned his third shot at the 18th and, after hitting the grandstand behind the green, the ball rebounded some 30 feet to within six feet of the flag.
Like McIlroy, though, McDowell was left to rue something earlier in the week. He went in the water and double-bogeyed the 17th on day one after his driver broke.
Woods heads back home a year after his last trip to the Middle East ended with him being given a European Tour fine for spitting.
He did it again by the ninth tee and television commentator Mark Roe said: "I almost feel like I should apologise - it's a horrible habit.
"I wish he would stop that. It's the one thing I don't like about him - everything else I can cope with."
Last month the authorities in Abu Dhabi announced that they would be imposing spot fines for spitting, throwing cigarette butts or dropping chewing gum on the city streets.
Collated final round scores and totals in the European Tour the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Abu Dhabi GC, United Arab Emirates. (Irish in bold, Gbr unless stated, par 72):
275Robert Rock 69 70 66 70
276 Rory McIlroy 67 72 68 69
277Tiger Woods (USA) 70 69 66 72, Graeme McDowell 72 69 68 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 71 65 68
278Matteo Manassero (Ita) 73 65 71 69, George Coetzee (Rsa) 71 72 65 70
279Francesco Molinari (Ita) 74 67 66 72, Paul Lawrie 70 69 68 72, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 70 67 71 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 71 71 68 69
280Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 68 71 69 72, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 69 71 69
281Romain Wattel (Fra) 74 69 69 69, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 70 72 68, Gareth Maybin 68 70 72 71
282James Kingston (Rsa) 72 69 67 74, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 70 72 70, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 72 74 65 71, Mark Foster 75 67 69 71, David Lynn 74 70 67 71, Simon Dyson 72 72 68 70, Lee Westwood 72 72 68 70
283Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 75 70 67 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 67 72 72 72, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 70 71 70 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 71 70 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 69 75 71 68, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 75 70 68 70
284Richard S Johnson (Swe) 71 72 70 71, Richard Finch 68 71 71 74, Jamie Donaldson 74 68 67 75, Graeme Storm 74 69 68 73, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 71 70 73
285Peter Hanson (Swe) 74 69 64 78, Anthony Wall 70 75 71 69, David Drysdale 70 72 71 72, Stephen Gallacher 72 72 70 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 74 70 69, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 72 73 67 73, Pádraig Harrington 71 69 72 73
286Ross Fisher 73 72 68 73, Peter Whiteford 73 73 68 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 69 70 75, Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 71 73 71, Markus Brier (Aut) 72 71 74 69, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 70 74 72
287Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 72 70 72 73, Richie Ramsay 69 71 77 70, Ben Curtis (USA) 72 71 70 74, Gary Boyd 73 73 68 73, K J Choi (Kor) 71 75 68 73, Luke Donald 71 72 73 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 76 70 71 70, Michael Hoey 70 76 69 72
288Soren Hansen (Den) 72 73 69 74, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 73 72 69 74, Rhys Davies 75 71 70 72, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 74 72 74 68, Bradley Dredge 73 71 72 72
289Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 73 71 72 73, Alexander Noren (Swe) 73 72 74 70
290Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 73 71 74, David Horsey 75 70 69 76, Richard Green (Aus) 75 71 72 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 74 69 76, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 71 71 73 75, Oliver Fisher 71 71 75 73
295Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 72 74 78 71
