Thomas Pieters won his first Rolex Series title as a gutsy closing 72 handed him a one-shot victory at the 2022 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The big-hitting Belgian hit the front on the first and never looked back, opening up a three-shot lead just before the turn at Yas Links and holding off the challenge of a high-class chasing pack on the way home.
Rolex Series winner Rafa Cabrera Bello briefly caught him on the back nine but as those around him stumbled, Pieters kept his cool to finish at ten under, one clear of Spaniard Cabrera Bello and India's Shubhankar Sharma and two ahead of Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and Norwegian Viktor Hovland.
Defending champion Tyrrell Hatton was then at seven under alongside fellow Englishmen James Morrison and Ian Poulter and Dane Jeff Winther, with Scotsman Scott Jamieson and Major Champion Adam Scott a further shot back.
Pieters becomes the first Belgian to win a Rolex Series event and claims his sixth DP World Tour title just 77 days after he won his fifth at the Portugal Masters.
The victory also sends him back into the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking - potentially as high as 31st - and straight to the top of the fledgling DP World Tour Rankings in Partnership with Rolex.
"Winning a Rolex Series, it's as good as it gets in Europe," he said. "Hopefully this lists me, I'm not sure where, but I want to play all of the big tournaments and hopefully this gets me close. (With the new money on this DP World Tour his winnings are approximately $1,300,000 usd)
"Top-50 is your strive point and when I jumped out maybe three years ago, I took it badly, but I'm happy to be back again.
"I feel like I've turned the corner and I'm playing really good golf. I'm really in control of my ball flight and it's nice to feel like that and making putts as well. My putting has improved massively and I felt like that's the thing that really kept me going on the weekend.
He added: "I just hope all the juniors back at home are watching this. I used to watch as a kid and think it was impossible for me but then Nico (Colsaerts) came on the scene and started winning. It's stuff like that that inspires kids and hopefully I can do that back home."
Opinion: Watching this tournament was as enjoyable this week as I've seen in a while. The new host venue, the Yas Links were a huge hit with all of it's undulations along the shores of the Persian Gulf, sand and of course the greens with their confounding slopes brought real life to every hole. The stiff wind/breeze added to the mix, and the friendly, entertaining banter of this international broadcast crew with Ken Brown, Dominik Holyer, Andrew Coltart etal in the studio and the indomitable Wayne Radar Riley on the course are as entertaining as golf commentating gets.
Bryan Angus
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