Dubai: Rory McIlroy admitted he was conscious of Martin Kaymer’s blown lead in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago as he shot a cautious two-under par 70 to safeguard his second Omega Dubai Desert Classic win at Emirates Golf Club on Sunday.
The world No. 1 finished three strokes clear of next-placed Alex Noren of Sweden with a record equalling score of 22-under par 266 (66,64,66,70) while defending champion Stephen Gallacher of Scotland finished six shots back in third.
The Northern Irishman had led comfortably by five strokes at 20-under par heading into the final day, but any hope of the four-time Major winner breaking that record set by Thomas Bjorn (2001) and Gallacher (2013) was dashed by memories of two weeks ago when Kaymer blew a 10-shot lead on the final day in Abu Dhabi.
“We’ve all seen what can happen to big leads over these past few weeks what with Martin in Abu Dhabi and Charl Schwartzel [who blew a five-shot lead] in South Africa,” said McIlroy, who carefully carded a birdie bogey combination on his front nine and two birdies on his return.
“I was conscious of making sure that I didn’t make any mistakes and I was happy to play a solid round.”
Having finished second in his last three events leading into Dubai, McIlroy who made his first cut here in 2007 and got his first professional win here in 2009, said he wasn’t going to take any chances on the final day. “I felt like I was finishing second every time I was teeing it up so it was time for a change. Obviously the only way I wanted to go was one better and thankfully I was able to do that today.
“I played very nicely all week and I did what I needed to do today. I didn’t play as well as the first three days but I played a good solid round of golf and did what I needed to do to keep my nose in front and be able to win.
“I set a target number and that took everybody else out of it, I knew that if I got to that number, especially with a big lead it was very unlikely anyone else would get to whatever number I set. That’s the way I approached it today, I didn’t quite get to the number I set myself but I was able to do enough.”
With this win, McIlroy joins Ernie Els (1994, 2002, 2005), Tiger Woods (2006, 2008) and Stephen Gallacher (2013, 2014) as only the fourth player to have recorded multiple victories in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. He also extends his European Tour record for the most consecutive top two finishes to seven. The previous record was five consecutive events by Seve Ballesteros in 1988.
