Aaron Rai held his nerve to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship after beating Tommy Fleetwood on the primary play-off gap.
The 30-year-old sunk a birdie from simply over eight toes to emulate his solely earlier Rolex Collection win on the 2020 Scottish Open – which was additionally a play-off win over Fleetwood.
Rai went into the ultimate spherical with a one-shot lead over Fleetwood and Nicolai Hojgaard, and emerged with a complete of 263 after a topsy-turvy, five-under closing spherical that included seven birdies and two bogeys.
He missed a 10-foot putt to win it on the final and see off Fleetwood, who had moved one shot clear with two to play after a birdie on the sixteenth, however in the end needed to accept parity after a six-under closing spherical of 66.
Rory McIlroy left himself simply an excessive amount of to do, developing one shot quick in a tie for third place with Hojgaard, after a shocking 10-under closing spherical of 62, comprising eight birdies and an eagle – his lowest ever spherical on the DP World Tour.
Hojgaard fired six birdies however his hopes of topping the leaderboard have been hit by a bogey on the twelfth. England’s Richard Mansell hit a superb closing spherical 63 to complete tied for fifth place with Australia’s Daniel Hillier.
After his win, Rai mentioned: “It is arduous to sum up. I feel you are simply so targeted on taking part in the spherical and clearly simply attempting to remain in your zone. It is arduous to place into phrases in the intervening time how this feels or how I will replicate on it.
“But it’s just amazing to be stood here. Tommy is a phenomenal player. He’s an even better person than he is a player and that says a lot.
“To play with him the final two days and be on the market with him was actually particular. So yeah, superb to be right here.”
Get the very best costs and ebook a spherical at considered one of 1,700 programs throughout the UK & Eire
What’s subsequent?
The DP World Tour Play-Offs conclude with the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai stay on Sky Sports activities Golf and Sky Sports activities Fundamental Occasion from November 13 at 7am.
