‘World No. 1’ Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) overcame the pursuit of ‘enemies’ Patrick Reed (USA) by one stroke and won the DP World Tour Hero Dubai Desert Classic (total prize money of 9 million dollars).
McIlroy hit a 4 under par 68 in the 4th round on the final day of the tournament held at the Emirates Golf Club (par 72, 7428 yards) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the 30th. McIlroy, who recorded a final total of 19 under par 269 strokes, won the championship prize money of 1,407,598 euros (approximately 1.88 billion won).
It is the 15th win of the DP World Tour in 3 years and 2 months after the World Golf Championship (WGC) HSBC Champions in November 2019. If you expand the scope to the US Professional Golf (PGA) Tour, it is the first win in three months since The CJ Cup in October last year. It is also his third personal win in the tournament.
Reed, who had a subtle conflict with McIlroy before the opening of the tournament, showed a fearsome back-and-forth to reduce 7 strokes on the final day, but only finished runner-up by one stroke. Reed and McIlroy collided at the practice range before the tournament began. When McIlroy did not greet Reed, Reed threw a tee at McIlroy.
The happening of the two is due to the LIV series launched last year. While Reed, who was active on the PGA Tour, moved to the LIV series, McIlroy is taking the lead in protecting the PGA Tour with Tiger Woods (USA). Unlike the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour allows LIV golfers to participate, so many LIV golfers, including Reed, participated in this tournament.
After the race, McIlroy said, “It was the most mentally challenging race I’ve ever played. I tried to focus on myself and not think about who was on the leaderboard.” “I think it seems like it,” he indirectly expressed his joy over winning Reed. 메이저놀이터
On this day, McIlroy and Reed did not play in the same group because McIlroy played in the last championship group while Reed played in the group before it. Wang Jeong-hun (28) finished the tournament with a tie for 28th (final total of 8 under par 280 strokes).