DP World Tour : Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Rankings
Paul Waring held off a stellar chasing pack to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The 39-year-old Englishman had taken control of the event with a course-record 61 at Yas Links on Friday but saw his five-shot halfway lead reduced to one as he posted a 73 a day later.
Waring had spoken of feeling jittery during his third round but he displayed nerves of steel in a flawless closing 66.
Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy, four-time Rolex Series winner Tyrrell 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.
“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 in Partnership with Rolex to put himself firmly on course to claim one of the ten 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.
“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. 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.”
It was Waring's turn to scramble a par after a wayward drive at the 15th, but former winner Hatton birdied the last two to see Waring caught for the first time in two days and set the clubhouse target at -22
Then came Waring's moment of magic as he converted from 40 feet at the 17th, before hitting a perfect drive at the last, running a three-wood through the back of the green and getting up and down to seal victory with a -24
Hatton took second with his stunning closing 64 -22, with McIlroy, Thorbjørn Olesen and Wallace sharing third on -21
edit : Canada's Aaron Cockerill topped off his career year with a much needed -4 68 to qualify for the Tour Championship by the skin of his teeth at #49..just 1 below the top 50 next week at the Tour Championship which Rory has already won at the top end of the leaderboard..
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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