“I wouldn’t say it has become a habit just yet,” observed Viktor Hovland. What will it be like when it does? In claiming the Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club, the 24-year-old Norwegian was winning his third title in his last five tournament appearances, adding a first Rolex Series success to the Mayakoba Classic and the Hero World Challenge he’d won at the tail end of last year.
In discovering the winning habit or not, Hovland’s ability to be the last man standing with the trophy in hand is beyond dispute; and his deliverance of his latest piece of silverware was unlike any other as, seemingly a bit player in the drama coming down the stretch, he finished birdie-eagle-birdie to sign for a 66 for a total of 12-under-par 276, which was later matched by Englishman Richard Bland who finished birdie-birdie for a 68.
Hovland would go on to defeat Bland at the first hole of a sudden-death shootout. And, for sure, that play-off should have been one of three or perhaps not have taken place at all if Rory McIlroy had safely managed to navigate a route home. Unfortunately for the Northern Irishman, his decision to go for the 18th green in two - hitting a 3-wood from 267 - ended in disaster as his ball plunged into the water hazard and he ran up a bogey for a 71 and a total of 277, one too many.
While McIlroy suffered an ignominious finish, settling for third place but with the genuine belief it was one which had slipped away on him, there was much to admire in the manner in which Pádraig Harrington - fighting fit at 50 years of age - produced a birdie-birdie finish for a 72 for 282 which gave him a top-10 finish, in tied-ninth.
Harrington had shown good late-season form at the end of last year - tied-eighth in the Aviv Dubai Championship and tied-12th in the Portugal Masters- and has continued that on into the new campaign in following up a tied-20th finish in Abu Dhabi with the tied-ninth in the Desert Classic: “I have down everything well at some stage over these two weeks here in the UAE . . . . the good thing is I am now fully focused on my own game whereas I couldn’t say that when I was handed the (Ryder Cup) captaincy. I know what I need to do and I am not being distracted.”
Harrington’s round featured four birdies and four bogeys, the most critical part coming late-on when he recovered from successive bogeys on the 15th and 16th with bounce-back birdies on the 17th and 18th holes. The Dubliner remains in the Middle East for the Ras al Khaimah Championship, the first of back-to-back tour stops at the new tour venue.
Shane Lowry finished with a 71 for 284 in tied-24th and is among those to have gained tour exemptions in order to play in this week’s Saudi International, which has now moved to the Asian Tour.
For Hovland, that winning feeling is one that has elevated him to number three in the world rankings and to the top of the Race to Dubai order of merit.
And his latest win - the sixth of his short professional career - was produced with an extraordinary finish just as if it had seemed his race was run.
As he described it, “I didn’t birdie 10. I didn’t birdie 13, and then three-putting 15, so then all kind of momentum went away, but then I make a bomb on 16 and I start thinking, ‘well, birdie, birdie, 17, 18, it’s a good finish, lots of good things to take with me to the next couple of events’, and then I hit a great drive (on 17)and then suddenly I see it’s on the green, and it wasn’t an easy putt.
“I might make that putt one in 20 times, especially it was going both ways and it’s so sandy, it’s kind of hard to get the speed right. When that went in, I knew I had a legit chance on the last hole if I could set myself up for a birdie.”
Hovland’s birdie on the 18th gave him a share of the lead with McIlroy before being also joined by Bland. But McIlroy’s travails on the last meant it was just Hovland and Bland who returned to the 18th for the play-off, where Hovland’s birdie to Bland’s par gave him victory.
Leona Maguire’s opening event of the new LPGA season finished with a tied-27th finish at the Gainbridge tournament at Baco Rio Golf Club in Florida where the star of Europe’s Solheim Cup win signed for a closing 73 for one-under-par 287, all of 13 strokes behind winner Lydia Ko.
Maguire’s round featured four bogeys and three birdies while Stephanie Meadow, also in her debut event of the season, finished with a 72 for 293 in tied-57th.
Ko was involved in a final-round duel with Danielle Kang, seeking back-to-back wins after claiming the opening Tournament of Champions event, with the New Zealander claiming three birdies in a back nine charge that saw her sign for a 69 for 274, 14 under, and a shot clear of Kang.
Collated final round scores & totals in the DP World Tour Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic (Britain & Irl unless stated, par 72):
276 Viktor Hovland (Nor) 68 69 73 66 (won at the first extra play-off hole), Richard Bland 69 68 71 68
277 Rory McIlroy 71 66 69 71
280 Tyrrell Hatton 69 66 73 72, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 69 67 71 73, Justin Harding (Rsa) 65 68 71 76, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 69 68 71 72, Sam Horsfield 69 69 75 67
281 Adam Scott (Aus) 69 72 71 69, Padraig Harrington 70 70 69 72, Jordan Smith 72 69 69 71
282 Paul Casey 70 68 70 74, Tommy Fleetwood 67 71 69 75, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 74 69 72, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 70 69 76 67, Marcus Armitage 70 68 72 72, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 68 74 69 71
283 Collin Morikawa (USA) 68 73 71 71, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 70 73 70 70, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 67 73 73 70, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 69 74 70 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 66 70 72 75, Romain Langasque (Fra) 70 70 72 71
284 Shane Lowry 71 74 68 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 68 69 76
285 Brandon Stone (Rsa) 68 72 73 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 72 71 72, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 72 73 69 71, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 73 72 70 70
286 Ashun Wu (Chn) 75 70 69 72, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 70 70 76 70
287 Lee Westwood 69 69 71 78, Haotong Li (Chn) 73 70 73 71, Richie Ramsay 74 69 72 72
288 Thorbjoern Olesen (Den) 73 71 74 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 67 75 76 70, Johannes Veerman (USA) 71 74 72 71, Ignacio Elvira (Spa) 70 74 70 74, Matt Wallace 69 73 69 77, Justin Walters (Rsa) 69 72 77 70, Scott Jamieson 69 71 73 75, Matthias Schmid (Ger) 73 68 69 78
289 Grant Forrest 70 74 72 73, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 73 71 72 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 75 70 73 71, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 73 74 73
290 Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 70 73 78 69, Rafael Cabrera (Spa) 72 73 69 76, Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 73 71 70 76, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 71 73 72 74, Andy Sullivan 72 73 70 75, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 71 74 72 73, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 72 71 77, Ross Fisher 71 72 74 73
291 Dean Burmester (Rsa) 71 74 69 77, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 72 73 69 77, Daniel Gavins 70 75 74 72, Josh Hill 70 74 69 78, David Law 70 74 77 70
292 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 73 72 73 74, Victor Perez (Fra) 73 72 73 74, John Catlin (USA) 72 69 76 75, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 75 69 72 76, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 71 72 76 73, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 77 66 74 75
293 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 65 72 81 75, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 68 72 76 77, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 69 75 71 78, Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 71 72 75 75
294 Matthew Jordan 70 73 73 78, Sebastian Garcia (Spa) 68 76 74 76, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 67 73 81 73
295 Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 70 74 77 74, Laurie Canter 75 69 77 74
296 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 72 72 76 76
297 David Drysdale 74 70 76 77, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 74 69 76 78
