Abu Dhabi: Unheralded World No. 357 Gary Stal clinched his maiden European Tour title at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship after early leader Martin Kaymer threw away his six-stroke advantage in the final round on a dramatic final day on Sunday.
US Open champion Kaymer was in the driver’s seat after first three days, with one hand on the trophy that he won three times before, six shots ahead of the pack.
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He extended that lead to 10 shots with 13 holes to play.
But after 47 holes without a dropped shot, a bogey, then a double and a triple saw his lead gone by the 13th.
The German eventually shot 75 to end third while Frenchman Stal carded a 65 to reach 19-under and win by a stroke.
World No 1 Rory McIlroy, who was resigned to his fate by the end of the third round, made some quick birdies with the news spreading that Kaymer had slipped and he carded a 66 to clinch second spot.
“It’s unbelievable to win, because when I see the leaderboard on the 16th green, I saw Martin Kaymer and 17 under. So in my head, I say, it’s possible, you can do it,” said a jubilant Stal, adding that, all through the morning he was thinking of second.
“I didn’t think about first place at all. When I saw Martin’s score I was at 13 under and was very excited. In life, I’m a little bit calm. There was a lot of pressure on the last hole but I kept my calm,” added the 22-year-old, who becomes the youngest winner in Abu Dhabi and moves to 408,465 points in The Race to Dubai.
Stal, after making par on the first three holes, picked up birdies at the fourth and sixth before storming ahead with two clear of the leaderboard with four successive birdies to the 11th hole.
Stal then again went on par, birdied in the par-four 16th and finished with two pars for a seven under 65 for the day.
That score was just one shot clear of McIlroy, who has already carded a final-round 66 by then. The Irishman had started eight strokes behind Kaymer but shot three birdies on the front nine and four coming home to finish six under for the final round and 18 under for the tournament.
“Once I started getting JP (Fitzgerald) to read putts, it was a lot better. I started off pretty slowly again and then we just sort of figured out. We would try and read them together. I counted I went 13 or 14 holes in a row without a birdie from yesterday and today.
“So it was nice to finally get it going. The little stretch yesterday and today sort of cost me the tournament,” said McIlroy, who went on to reveal that he learnt about the dramatic turnaround of things behind when he was on the 15th tee.
“I immediately knew with a good finish, you never know what could happen. I was pretty aware; the last sort of four or five holes, I knew I was in there with a chance.
“Going out today, my goal was to finish second. I didn’t think I was going to get close to winning the tournament,” added McIlroy, who had finished runner-up here three times before.
