Rory McIlroy has won the Dubai Desert Classic in dramatic circumstances, holing a testing birdie putt on the last hole to edge out rival Patrick Reed.
Ahead of the start of the tournament last week, the pair were involved in several exchanges through the media, the back story being that McIlroy had been issued with a lawsuit by Reed on Christmas Eve.
McIlroy then ignored Reed's attempt to wish him happy new year, leading to both players issuing their own blunt responses when quizzed on the exchange.
Fittingly, the end result was the pair challenging for the title on Monday, albeit in different groups, but that only added more to the captivating ending.
Reed started the day three shots adrift, but the American and LIV Golf representative produced a final-round 65 to reach the clubhouse level with McIlroy.
AND HE'S DONE IT!!!!
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) January 30, 2023
A winning start for Rory McIlroy 🏆 pic.twitter.com/8d2Q3s54K4
In the group behind, McIlroy almost found the water with his tee shot on 18, and it led to the world number one opting to lay up rather than attempt to clear the water with his second.
Instead, McIlroy left himself 92 yards with his third shot, only to set up a putt from approximately 12 feet which was heavily left to right and downhill.
Nevertheless, McIlroy holed out, the ball creeping in the bottom side of the hole to spark jubilation between himself and his caddie as they finally won their first Rolex Series event.
Lucas Herbert and Callum Shinkwin were third and fourth place respectively, while Julien Brun completed the top five.
Ian Poulter, another LIV Golf representative, had been on course to finish in that bracket, only to double bogey his final hole to finish joint-sixth alongside Thomas Pieters.
Darren Plant
