Rory McIlroy seizes the day, wins Dubai Desert Basic by 1 shot

Name him the King of Dubai.

After briefly relinquishing his throne finally week’s Dubai Invitational, Rory McIlroy bounced again with a vengeance Sunday, profitable the Hero Dubai Desert Basic for a second consecutive 12 months.

It’s McIlroy’s fourth profession victory on the Dubai Desert Basic, probably the most out of any participant within the 35-year historical past of this marquee DP World Tour occasion.

“It’s actually cool. You realize, I didn’t actually take into consideration [potentially being the fourth player to win this tournament] through the course of the spherical,” McIlroy stated of his win.

“It was a extremely tough day. It was arduous to get it shut and make a ton of birdies… however it’s an incredible begin to the season.”

He shot a 2-under 70 to complete at 14-under general, one stroke forward of 30-year-old Pole Adrian Meronk.

His march to victory started on the 351-yard par-4 2nd gap, the place McIlroy launched a excellent drive that landed within the coronary heart of the inexperienced. He then two-putted for his first birdie of the day.

That put some strain on 54-hole chief Cameron Younger, who then held a one-shot lead over McIlroy strolling off the second inexperienced.

Younger then stumbled, bogeying the fourth and sixth holes to shortly drop to 1 behind McIlroy.

McIlroy maintained his one-shot lead by the point this ultimate pairing arrived on the eighth gap, a 459-yard dogleg proper par-4. The Northern Irishman then rolled in a 31-footer for birdie to extend his lead by two. Then, on the ninth, McIlroy holed a 16-foot birdie putt to enhance his lead additional.

“The pivotal level for me got here on the eighth and ninth gap,” McIlroy stated.

“Making two threes there, that form of set me as much as attempt to management it on the way in which in.”

Humorous sufficient, his birdie on the ninth can be his final of the day. He performed very conservatively on the again 9, realizing he had the lead in hand. However he nearly coughed it up on the par-5 thirteenth, the place he duck-hooked his tee shot within the native space nicely left of the green.

Photograph by Richard Heathcote/Getty Pictures

He even needed to hit a provisional.

“I made that one blunder on 13 and made bogey there however felt like I steadied the ship nicely over the previous couple of holes,” McIlroy stated.

“It was a type of days the place there was not a ton of fireworks simply because the course was so troublesome, however I held on as finest as I may, and fortunately, nobody across the prime of the leaderboard made a lot of a run.”

After bogeying the thirteenth, McIlroy fell again to 14-under, however completed with 4 straight pars to carry on for the win. And contemplating the place he started the day on Saturday, no one would have ventured to guess that he had an opportunity to defend his title on the Emirates Membership.

McIlroy entered the third spherical ten photographs behind Younger, however a 9-under 63 on Saturday vaulted him up the leaderboard and into the combo.

“I believed on Friday evening, I believed 10-under for the weekend, I might have a extremely good probability to win,” McIlroy reasoned.

Photograph by Warren Little/Getty Pictures

“I shot 11-under and ended up profitable by one. I’ve performed the sport lengthy sufficient to understand how this stuff are going to go. Fortunately, I performed the golf I wanted to, and it was simply unimaginable to get my fourth win right here on the Emirates.”

The four-time main winner performed terrific as soon as once more within the United Arab Emirates, demonstrating that his present type is superb.

McIlroy’s subsequent begin will come at the start of February on the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am, the second Signature Occasion of the 2024 PGA Tour season.

So, be careful, world; McIlroy is enjoying nicely, and he is aware of it, too.

“I do know I’m enjoying good golf,” McIlroy stated.

“There are nonetheless a few misses off the tee left. One bought me on 18 final week [at the Dubai Invitational]. I missed a tee shot left on 13 immediately which form of price me a shot… A few little issues nonetheless to work on, however these weeks are nice. You be taught a ton from them, and clearly nice to get the competitors and are available out on prime as nicely.”

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By. Make sure to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.