Patrick Reed claimed the fourth DP World Tour title of his career with a composed four-shot victory at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
Related: Patrick Reed surges four shots in Dubai
The American stayed patient on a testing front nine, carding eight pars and a single bogey to reach the turn with his overnight lead cut in half to two shots.
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Spaniard David Puig completed a hat-trick of birdies from the eighth hole to briefly move within one, before Reed rolled in his first birdie of the day at the tenth.
The 35-year-old then birdied the 13th as Puig dropped a shot on the same hole, with Reed restoring his four-shot advantage with five holes to play and never looking back.
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The 2018 Masters champion parred his way home for a 14 under par total to become the sixth American winner of the Dallah Trophy and securing his first Rolex Series victory at Emirates Golf Club, going one better than his runner up finish in 2023.
Andy Sullivan recovered from a shaky front nine to finish birdie-birdie and sign for a one-under-par 71, securing solo second at ten under.
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France’s Julien Guerrier carded an eagle, two birdies and a bogey to record his best finish at a Rolex Series event in third at nine under.
Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard, Francesco Molinari and Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World leader Jayden Schaper finished a shot further back, while Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia, England’s Marcus Armitage and Puig – who incurred a two-shot penalty for grounding his club in a bunker at the last – ended the week at seven under.
Patrick Reed: “It hasn’t fully set it in yet. Today was a lot harder than expected, I knew it was going to be. I just couldn’t get anything going on the front nine, I think I learned a lot about the round today.
“Instead of keeping my foot on the gas early, I tried to protect that four-shot lead and then David goes and birdied eight and nine and shut it down to two.
“Kess (Kessler Karain, caddie) was like ‘it’s a dogfight, now let’s get going and shoot under par on the back nine and no-one will beat you’. We were able to get that birdie there on 13 to get to one under and he (Puig) gave me a gift there by bogeying, from there on it was hit fairways, hit greens and make no mistakes.
“It was a grind. It was one of those nine holes, I really didn’t feel like I hit it that bad. Just couldn’t get anything really close, and when I did, maybe over-read a couple putts, but besides that, kind of steady.
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“It feels amazing. You know, just kind of one of these things that any time I came to this event, obviously feel like kind of shows how the off-season was, like if the things we were working on were successful and working.
“To be able to come so close in ’23, and to have an opportunity today to have a chance to win the golf tournament at the start and see the lead dwindle, it kind of went away; and once I got to the back nine and to be able to play some solid golf on the back to get a very comfortable lead out there for the last couple, it was nice.”
