Hero Dubai Desert Classic: After fending off a superb charge from foe Patrick Reed to win the thrilling Hero Dubai Desert Classic, Rory McIlroy has praised his own mental toughness.
The world No. 1 needed to birdie his final two holes to finish with a final score of 68 and finish ahead of the American by one shot. McIlroy had a three-shot lead going into the final day at Emirates Golf Club, with Reed starting a further shot down.
Since the video of Reed throwing a tee at the Northern Irishman on the practice range before the competition surfaced, despite McIlroy’s denial that he saw the incident, the two have been engaged in a verbal battle.
The attorney for Reed, who is suing many media outlets and individuals for defamation in a different lawsuit from McIlroy’s, served a subpoena on the four-time major champion on Christmas Eve. McIlroy used this as inspiration to get off to a strong start in the new year.
After winning, McIlroy admitted, “I think mentally today was probably one of the toughest rounds I’ve ever had to play. It would be quite simple to allow your feelings to get in the way.”
“I only needed to put all of my efforts into concentrating on myself and forgetting about Reed, who was in the lead, and I did it incredibly effectively. I believe that today, I displayed a lot of mental toughness.
“I’ll take pleasure in this. Although I feel like there is still work to be done, this is definitely sweeter than it needs to be or should be. As I’ve already mentioned, it’s a fantastic start to the year and a tremendous place to start.”
After starting the day with eight straight pars, McIlroy went on a five-hole streak of three birdies, but he slipped one behind when he couldn’t get up and down from the rough at the par-three 15th.
Reed birdied the penultimate hole to set the clubhouse target at 18 under, but McIlroy made a two-putt birdie from the edge at the driveable 17th and then took advantage of the par-five last to win the tournament for the first time on the DP World Tour since 2019.
The victory, according to McIlroy, ‘means a lot.’ The hilarious part is that Harry Diamond, his caddie, told me, “Finally we get a gold bib. Obviously, I’ve never taken home the victory in one of these major Rolex Series competitions.”
“All day long there was conflict. It has really been a struggle this week. I feel like I haven’t been at my best this week, but I simply played very wisely and managed my game so well. I’m just thrilled that I gave myself a chance the first week back. Even while there is undoubtedly much space for growth, the year is off to a wonderful start.”
In order to lose the championship last year, McIlroy found the water on the 72nd hole. On Sunday, he found the water once more during his third round, cutting his lead from four strokes to three. With his final tee shot, he almost escaped the same fate this time.
Stay tuned for golf championship, golf live score, golf match today, latest golf news, golf club, live golf score today, golf match live update, golf tournament, live golf daily news, golf live score daily and other golf news follow Livematchupdates.com.
