Staff Reporter.
Rory McIlroy successfully defended his Hero Dubai Desert Classic title and secured a record fourth victory at the event after completing an impressive one-shot win.
McIlroy was 10 strokes off the halfway lead before charging into contention with a third-round 63 at Emirates Golf Club, taking him within two shots of Cameron Young, then pulled clear of the field during an impressive final-round display.
The world No 2 moved into a share of the lead inside the opening four holes and grabbed the solo advantage at the sixth after errors from both Young and Adrian Meronk, with back-to-back birdies from the eighth seeing McIlroy reach the turn with a three-stroke cushion.
McIlroy’s victory followed his second-placed finish in the Dubai Invitational the previous weekend.
Three birdies on the front nine of his final round, and just one dropped shot on the 13th, proved enough for McIlroy to continue his winning run in a tournament that brought him his first professional victory back in 2009.
Young’s challenge faltered with two early dropped shots, with three birdies on the back cancelled out by three more bogeys for the 2022 Open runner-up.
McIlroy, meanwhile, made birdies at the second, eighth and ninth holes to reach the turn with a three-shot lead on 15 under.
Meronk, who started the day tied with McIlroy, picked up another birdie on the third to keep pace with the four-time major winner.
The 30-year-old Pole seemingly fell out of contention following a double bogey at the par-three seventh and a bogey at the ninth. But, after making three birdies in the opening five holes of the back nine, coupled with McIlroy’s six at the par-five 13th, he returned to within one shot of the defending champion.
McIlroy scrambled pars on the 14th, 15th and 16th, while Meronk, playing in the penultimate group, bogeyed the par-four 16th before fighting back to birdie the last and set a clubhouse lead of 13 under.
But McIlroy made par in his final two holes to close out victory.