'It means so much,' says Dubai's Waring after magical putt helps set up victory in Abu Dhabi

Dubai resident Paul Waring sensationally triumphed in a thrilling finale, holding off a formidable chasing pack to secure victory at the $9million Abu Dhabi Championship on Sunday.

The 39-year-old Englishman had stunned the field with a course-record 61 at Yas Links on Friday, surging to a five-shot lead. But a tense second round, where he carded a 73, saw that advantage shrink to just one shot but he battled through the final stretch on Sunday to claim the win.

Tyrell Hatton took second with his stunning closing 64, with Rory McIlroy, Thorbjørn Olesen and Wallace sharing third on 21 under.

Waring had spoken of feeling jittery during his third round but he displayed nerves of steel in a flawless closing 66.

McIlroy, four-time Rolex Series winner Hatton and former Open Champion Shane Lowry were among those to turn up the heat on Waring during a thrilling final round.

But Waring, whose only previous DP World Tour title came at the Nordea Masters more than six years ago, responded to being caught by Hatton with a birdie from 40 feet at the 17th and played the last impeccably to claim the $1,530,000 winner's cheque.

He moves up 43 places on the Race to Dubai from 48th to fifth.

“It just means so much to so many other things that come with that win,” said Waring, who climbs to fifth in the Race to Dubai Rankings to put himself firmly on course to claim one of the 10 PGA Tour cards on offer for 2025.

‘That said, early in the week, to actually keep control of myself in the way that I did today I'm really proud of myself, and (caddie) Alex (Evans) was absolutely amazing. Playing partner was amazing, Shane was great as was Niklas (Norgaard). I'm a bit taken aback right now,” he added,

“I'm not that emotional on golf courses. I tend not to fist-pump and I tend not to get up and down, and I tend to stay quite steady. It was actually the putt on 15, the par save. It was only five feet but it was such a solid putt. It just gave me so much confidence coming in that if I just keep hitting putts like that I'll be fine.

“The one on 17, I could just see it tracking wholly, and just knew I was going to hole it. As soon as it left the blade, I knew it was in,” Waring added. “So yeah, it was a big moment. Big, big moment.

“I thought the second shot into 18 was absolutely perfect. To see it go long was, 'right, I've still got business, still got stuff to do. So got my head back on. I'll be honest, legs were shaking a little bit over that last putt. I just wanted to make sure that nothing else could happen and great to roll that one in on the last as well.

“I don't want to sound over the top or anything but I felt like my golf game has been in such a good place over the last year,” said Waring.

“Just haven't put it all together. And then this week arrives and you know what, a week for it all to come together, putting nicely, approach play was great, great off the tee. It's nice to put it all together and get a tournament like this.”

McIlroy was first to make an early charge as the four-time Major winner birdied four of his first six holes.

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