Rory McIlroy Gets His First Win of The Year

It was the Rory McIlroy show in Desert once again. On Sunday the world number one wrapped up is fifteenth career win worldwide and his second at the Dubai Desert Classic. After three rounds in the 60s to give him a four stroke lead heading into the final round, all he needed was a walk in the park 70 to pick up his first win in five months. That may not seem like a long time without a victory, but for McIlroy it could feel like an eternity. He showed this week that he’s the game’s best player, and even with his five-month hiatus, and it’s starting to look more and more that no one else is on his level.

More from European tour

Today’s final round was never in doubt as Rory’s lead never dipped below the three-stroke mark he eventually won by. In a year on the European Tour that has been defined by final round collapses there would be nothing of that sort for McIlroy. He was business like for the entire round and never even cracked a smile till the 18^th green. Maybe that’s because according to him there was no chance to let up cause he knows that two major champions already coughed up big leads this year.

"“Yea I still get nervous. I felt as if I was a little tentative the first two holes out there, because I guess we’ve seen what can happen to big leads over the past few weeks with Martin (Kaymer) & Charl (Schwartzel) in Abu Dhabi and South Africa. So I was conscious of that and not making any mistakes and happy that I was able to play a solid round.” (Credit Golf Channel & EuropeanTour.com)"

It wasn’t a scorching round like the three days before but as Rory said, it was a solid round. Most of all it was a good enough round to never really make him sweat things out. He said there were nerves and concerns about what had happened already this year on tour, but for Rory there was never a doubt on Sunday. There was a never a moment where you’d start to worry about the anxiety creeping in, and there was never challenger in sight. Rory’s two under par round totaled a -22 score for the week that tied the tournament record in Dubai.

The world’s number one is back where we all feel like he belongs, on top of the leaderboard. After winning the PGA Championship last August it’s been a story of close calls and runner up finishes, including a 2^nd place finish two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi. For Rory it feels good to be back on top.

"“I felt like I was finishing second every time I was teeing it up so it was time for a change. Obviously I was able to go one better and thankful that I was able to do that. Played very nicely all week. I did what I needed to do today. I didn’t play nearly as well as I did the first three days, but it was a solid round of golf and I did what I needed to do to keep my nose in front and win.” (Credit Golf Channel & EuropeanTour.com)"

In golf it’s becoming more and more obvious that right now there’s Rory, and there’s everybody else. Some of us (yours truly) may want to believe that someone like Rickie Fowler could make a run at him, but that may just be a Fansided belief rather than a grip on reality. The world would love to see someone challenge him and give him a rival for years to come. That rival may pop up from week to week but in the big scheme of things, we’re just all living in “Rory Land.”

Next: Martin Laird Takes A Three-Shot To Phoenix Open Finale

Home/European tour