After roaring to a 10-under 62 finish and posting 24 under Sunday at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Rory McIlroy turned to his caddie, Harry Diamond, and said, “At least we are going to make them earn it, no matter what happens.”
McIlroy would share the lead for only a moment, though, as Tommy Fleetwood rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-4 16th and Aaron Rai posted back-to-back birdies, at Nos. 16 and 17. Both Fleetwood and Rai missed birdie tries at the par-5 18th and with closing 66 and 67, respectively, earned spots in a playoff at 25 under.
Rai then redeemed himself by returning to Yas Golf Links’ No. 18 and sinking the playoff winner, from similar distance, to capture his third career DP World Tour title.
“I was so focused, just tried to stay in the zone,” said Rai, who entered Sunday the leader by a shot and rattled off birdies at Nos. 4-7 before playing his next seven holes in 1 over.
After a bogey at the par-4 14th in which he missed a 3-footer for par, Rai completed a nice up-and-down par from 6 feet at the par-4 15th to settle things. He then rolled in birdie putts of 6 feet and 16 feet to pull even with Fleetwood.
“Bit of a shock to the system,” Rai said of the bogey at No. 13. “[Caddie Jason Timmis] was great, helped me to stay present and focused on the shots and try and finish strong.”
Rai’s victory propelled the Englishman from No. 46 to No. 9 in the Race to Dubai, which will culminate with next week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
McIlroy padded his lead in the points race with his T-3 finish as he looks to win the DP World Tour’s season-long title for the seventh time, one shy of Colin Montgomerie’s record. Marco Penge, still second, tied for ninth thanks to a closing 63.
McIlroy’s 62 marked his best round ever on the DP World Tour. He began his day birdie-eagle, with the eagle coming after McIlroy rolled in a 15-footer. McIlroy turned in 4-under 32 before starting the back nine with five straight birdies – four of those came from 8 feet and in – to tie Fleetwood for the lead.
McIlroy missed the 15th green from 120 yards with a wedge, the wind knocking down a solid strike, and settled for par there. He couldn’t hit his approaches close at the next two holes before getting up and down from 40 yards for birdie at the last.
“I played the front nine very well this week, and then it was on the back nine that I couldn’t really get anything going,” said McIlroy, who was 14 under on the first nine and 10 under on the back.
“… I just tried to keep my foot down and make as many birdies as possible knowing that, OK, I’m trying to win this tournament but also give myself the biggest cushion possible going into Dubai next week, as well.”
McIlroy will enter the playoff finale 767.02 points clear of Penge and 1,720.88 ahead of No. 3 Tyrrell Hatton. The winner of the DP World Tour Championship gets 2,000 points, meaning No. 4 Kristoffer Reitan is now the only other player with a chance at winning the Race to Dubai.