Dubai: China’s Li Haotong became the first Asian to win the Omega Dubai Desert Classic with a record best score of 23 under par, one stroke clear of Rory McIlroy at Emirates Golf Club on Sunday.
The 22-year-old started the day one stroke clear of McIlroy at 20 under (66, 66, 64), but both carded nervy three under 69s in their final rounds to maintain the deficit.
Li immediately came out and bogeyed his opening hole to go back to 19 under level with McIlroy, and both birdied the third and seventh holes to stay level on 21 under at the turn.
McIlroy pulled two clear at 22 under on 10 after he birdied and Li bogeyed. The Northern Irishman then bogeyed 11 and Li bogeyed 12, to leave McIlroy still two clear but going backwards on 21 under.
Li caught up however, birdieing 13 and 15 — the latter of which was a stunning 20 foot putt off the fringe — to pull level at 21 under.
And McIlroy blew it, bogeying 16, twice missing the fairway with his approach, after which both birdied the last two holes to hand Li a record breaking victory.
“The first few holes I was quite nervous,” said Li. “I bogeyed the first but came back quickly, which was good.
“I always just told myself not to go any further back than two strokes, that’s not too far around here, so I gave myself a chance to always put myself in position. “In the last four holes I got the best shot of my life so far (on 15), so I’m quite happy to hold the trophy.”
The winning score of 23 under breaks the previous record by a stroke. That benchmark was shared by Thomas Bjorn (2001), Stephen Gallacher (2013) and McIlroy himself back in 2015.
McIlroy, who also won here in 2009, was chasing a third Desert Classic victory to equal Ernie Els’ most wins record, but it wasn’t to be.
The past two winners of this event, Danny Willett and Sergio Garcia, both went on to win the Masters in the same year. And now Li, whose best Majors finish is a third-place finish at last year’s Open Championship will be hoping the trend continues.
“This win has given me a lot of confidence this year in all Majors and I am especially looking forward now to my first Masters.”
This is Li’s second win on the European Tour in 61 appearances. His first was at the Volvo China Open in 2016. He had never previously led a tournament going into the final round and this was only his second appearance at this event, after having finished tied for 39 on his Dubai Classic debut last year. He now joins Ashun Wu as the most prolific Chinese player on tour with two victories, and could move to second in the Race to Dubai from 84th, and 32nd in the world rankings from 60th.
