His Highness Shiakh Mansoor Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum with the Omega Dubai Desert Classic winner Danny Willett at the Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club, Dubai on Sunday, 07 February 2016.
Dubai - All three had a chance to win and had a go at it, and that produced some fascinating and thrilling golf every seen on these shores.
Published: Sun 7 Feb 2016, 8:27 PM
Updated: Tue 9 Feb 2016, 1:16 PM
England's Danny Willett said that there such a miniscule difference between winning and losing. He said that it's just about putting oneself in that position as many times as possible. Some days you get lucky and some days you don't.
The three contenders Willett, Andy Sullivan and Rafa Cabrera-Bello found themselves in that very situation on Sunday.
With just a shot separating the three, their fortunes had depended on one another, stepping into the final day.
All three had a chance to win and had a go at it, and that produced some fascinating and thrilling golf every seen on these shores. It was a fight to the finish, a street fight, minus the bloodshed.
And after 7319 yards over the course of the day, Willett, with his back to wall, so to speak, showed the will to fight with a truly magical birdie putt on the final hole to clinch the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
Overnight on 16-under, the 28-year-old Willett did open up a three-shot lead on two occasions despite two bogeys on the front nine. But both Sullivan and Cabrera-Bello, fought demons of their own on the front nine and stay in touch with Willett.
Sullivan brilliantly birdied the par-3 15th and wrapped it up with another birdie on the final hole to lay down the gauntlet by going level with Willett on 18-under.
Cabrera-Bello too raised his game with two astonishing birdies on the 17th and the 18th to also go 18-under.
It was Willett's to lose as a par would have forced a play-off. But he negated the pressure and responded with an even more astonishing 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 564-yard 18th of the Majlis Course, sending it down the slope from left to right and into the cup, for a grandstand finish and a fourth European Tour victory.
Willett had six birdies and three bogeys for a three-under on the day and 19-under for the tournament. His first European Tour win in the Middle East pushed him from sixth to third in the Race to Dubai standings.
And while Willett was ecstatic, his countryman Sullivan contemplated what may have been. The 28-year-old, who not long ago worked early morning shifts as a shelf stacker in a supermarket back home in Nuneaton, had kept the pressure on Willett all through, despite having a couple of excursions on to the sand, towards the closing stages.
Sullivan ended with a four-under for the day and 18-under for the tournament. Despite finishing tied second, Sullivan will be pleased with the way he played during the week where he had a total of 21 birdies and just a bogey and a double bogey.
He had eight birdies on the front nine but the most productive was the back nine, with 13 coming from it.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy had said going into Sunday that overcoming an eight-stroke deficit was not out of the realms of possibility. And true to his word, the Northern Ulsterman went at it with a crisp round of golf.
The World No.2 shot his lowest score of the week, a 65, to come within four shots, but it was a bridge too far to cross. McIlroy jumped 15 spots to finish the tournament tied sixth on 15-under.
Former winner Henrik Stenson carded six-under for 15-under to also finish tied sixth, while triple Desert Classic winner Ernie Els moved up 10 spots to end at tied 18th. He shot five-under for an overall 12-under.
james@khaleejtimes.com
Omega Dubai Desert Classic winner Danny Willett with his trophy at the Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club, Dubai on Sunday, 07 February 2016.
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