Dubai: China’s Li Haotong immediately turned his attentions to the Masters after breaking into the World’s top 50 with victory at Omega Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday.
The 22-year-old jumped to 32nd from 60th in the world, after becoming the first Asian to lift the Dallah ‘Coffee Pot’ trophy.
He also set a new record winning score around the Majlis Course of 23-under par, to finish a stroke clear of Rory McIlroy.
It denied the Northern Irishman — who was at one stage on Sunday two strokes clear after the turn — his record-equalling third Dubai triumph.
Li caught up with four birdies over his last six holes, a 20-foot putt on 15 being his “most important”; while McIlroy, who twice missed the fairway to bogey 16, was made to pay for that error, despite matching Li with two closing birdies.
“It’s definitely going to give me a lot of confidence for the next few events and the rest of the year,” said Li. “Especially for the Masters, I’ve never been there before and I’m looking forward to those big events.”
The past two Desert Classic winners, Danny Willett and Sergio Garcia, both went on to win the Masters in the same year as their Dubai victory, meaning all eyes will now be on Li to see if he can do the same.
Confidence for this week, he said, had come from his recent performance in the EurAsia Cup in Malaysia last week where despite losing to Europe 14-10, he personally halved his four-ball, before winning both his foursomes and singles matches.
“That (singles) win helped me a lot, especially as I holed a couple of really important long putts out there. And especially this week, every time when I had an important putt, it just kind of reminded me of Malaysia, so I think it was really helpful.
“Last year I had been playing very decent, very solid, I had a few chances to win a trophy but unfortunately I did not,” he added of his five top 10 finishes in 22 appearances on the European Tour last season, including a third — his best Majors finish — at The Open Championship.
“My parents and coach always told me to just keep doing what you’re doing and good things will come.”
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 moves to second in the Race to Dubai from 84th.
