2015 Omega Dubai Desert Classic: Final Thoughts
By Les Bailey
Sep 13, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Rory McIlroy smiles on the eighteenth green during the third round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Rory McIlroy fired a two under par 70 at the 2015 Omega Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday afternoon, and cruised to a three-shot win over Alex Noren, from Sweden in the finale’ to the European Tour’s Desert Swing. The world’s number one player didn’t have his A-Game for the weekend, but showed the golf world that he didn’t need it to win his second Desert Classic trophy.
It was McIlroy’s tenth win on The European Tour, and it came at the site of his maiden win at the Emirates Golf Course back in 2009. Rory loves to play in Dubai, and has three wins, including his victory at the 2012 DP World Tours Championship at the Jumeriah Estates, which gave him the Race To Dubai Championship that year.
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In McIlroy’s last seven starts, he hasn’t finish outside of the top two, and said securing the win on Sunday, that he was tired of finishing second every time he teed it up, so it was time to get that next win.
"“It’s nice to be able to put my name on that trophy again,” said McIlroy, who has now won four and been runner-up in three of his last seven European Tour starts.“It felt like I was coming second every time I was teeing it up so it was time for a change and obviously the only way I wanted to go was one better and thankfully I was able to do that today."
Several players had an opportunity to win at the Emirates Golf Course this weekend, Rory was having trouble making birdies, but 25 year-old was not going to give it to them. He wasn’t making a lot of birdies over the weekend, but he also was not making bogeys. He made one on Thursday, and one on Sunday.
Going into the weekend, it looked like two-time Dubai Desert Classic champ, Stephen Gallacher, Bernd Wiesberger, and Andy Sullivan would be the contenders, but other than the 69 that Gallacher shot on Sunday, they couldn’t get out of the 70’s.
Everyone else who played well on Saturday and Sunday, were too far back to take advantage of McIlroy’s mediocre play.
Second-place finisher, Alexander Noren, carded a seven under par 65 on Sunday, and moved up six spots to finish three back.
The big mover on the day, was 2015 US Open Champ, Martin Kaymer. Still stinging from the ten-shot meltdown at Abu Dhabi two weeks ago, the 30 year-old German had the best round of the day, getting in the clubhouse at eight under par on the day.
Kaymer made up 30 spots on the leader board on Sunday, but after posting a 73 on Saturday, could not make up the deficit. Martin Kaymer finished in a tie for fourth with Gary Stal, Wiesberger, Sullivan, and Dane, Morten Orem Madsen.
The young Dane played in the last group with McIlroy, but triple bogeyed the first hole, and never recovered. He made some birdies, but back-to-back bogeys at 15 and 16 took any hope out of his equation. He finished one over par on the day, and in the tie for fourth.
Graeme McDowell made his first start in the 2015 season at Dubai, and played well before the cut, shooting a seven under 65 on Friday, but a 72-70 weekend saw him finishing in a tie for ninth.
Also finishing in a tie for ninth, was Lee Westwood. The former number one opened on Thursday with a seven under 67 of his own, but steadily digressed as the week continued. Even par on Sunday, dropped him six spots on the leaderboard.
With the Desert Swing in the books for the year, the tour moves to Malaysia this week for the Maybank Malaysian Open at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Courtry Club to start the February schedule. They move on to Thailand for the Thailand Classic.
The Hero Indian Open is up next in New Delhi, with the month coming to an end, back in South Africa for the Joburg Open.
The European Tour will give us some exciting golf in February, but here in the States, we will need to set our alarm clocks for some strange hours if we want to watch them in real-time, or catch them on Golf Channel tape delays.
Source and Quotes Courtesy of EuropeanTour.com