DATES: January 25-28

SITE: Emirates GC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

PRIZE MONEY: $3,000,000

Round 4 – Li Haotong holds on to lead and beats McIlroy to Dubai title

January 28, 2018

China’s Li Haotong displayed nerves of steel to beat Rory McIlroy in a head-to-head battle and win the $3 million Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday.

In an intense battle played out between the two players in the final group, Li managed to protect his one-shot lead at the start of the day by shooting a three-under-par round of 69 to tally a tournament-record 23-under total of 265.

McIlroy, who had surged ahead just after the turn, also made a 69 but a three-putt par on the par-5 13th hole, followed by a bogey on the par-4 16th, proved crucial as he finished on 266.

It was 22-year-old Li’s second win on the European Tour following his triumph at the 2016 China Open, and he is sure of becoming the first Chinese player to crack into the top 50 of the world rankings on Monday.

“It was incredible to play with Rory. I gained a lot of experience from him. This win gives me a lot of confidence and will help me do better in the majors this year,” said Li, who came third at last year’s British Open at Birkdale.

He is now expected to rise to number 32 in the world.

Li started the day one ahead of McIlroy, but a bogey on the first hole brought them level. Both then birdied the third and seventh holes to make the turn at 21 under par, way ahead of the field.

England’s Tyrrell Hatton briefly threatened to join the party with four birdies in six holes starting from the ninth, but he finished on 20-under after missing a birdie putt from four feet on the 17th and then hitting his second shot into the water on the 18th hole.

There was a two-shot swing in McIlroy’s favour on the 10th hole when Li had to take an unplayable from the bushes after a wayward drive and made a bogey, while the Northern Irishman got his birdie.

The situation remained the same after McIlroy made a bogey from the bunker on the par-3 11th, followed by a Li bogey on the 12th.

It was then that the four-time major champion made his mistakes on the 13th and 16th holes, while Li made a stunning 20-feet birdie putt from the back fringe on the 15th.

“This is incredible. I just didn’t think I could make that putt on 15. That was huge. I think that was the turning point. And also on 18, I didn’t think I would make that one, either. Was quite happy in the end,” said Li, who made a 10-feet birdie putt on the final hole to ensure the tournament did not go into a play-off.

McIlroy remains winless since August 2016 when he won the Tour Championship.

“From being two ahead standing on the 11th tee, to being, you know, level going into 16th, I don’t know, it was a couple of bad shots, a couple of poor decisions, a couple of mental errors, a few tentative putts out there, as well,” said McIlroy, who finished third in Abu Dhabi last week in his comeback tournament.

“But I tried until the very end. Made two good birdies. Made him win it in the end, which was all I could do, and he played very well on the way in, birdieing three of the last four. I just wish I could get a couple of those holes back.

“Having two close calls the first couple of weeks of the year, it’s a little difficult. The competitor in me is very disappointed right now.”

Hatton’s 66 saw him move to third place on 268, 20 under par. He was followed by France’s Alexander Levy (70) in sole fourth place at 19-under 269, while Chris Paisley (69) continued his remarkable form and finished fifth on 17-under.

Pos.	Player	Nat	To Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Haotong Li	CHN	-23	66	66	64	69	265
2	Rory McIlroy	NIR	-22	65	64	68	69	266
3	Tyrrell Hatton	ENG	-20	64	72	66	66	268

Click here for full final scores.

Round 3 – Li Haotong takes 1-shot lead over McIlroy

January 27, 2018

China’s Li Haotong displayed his superstar potential as he outscored Rory McIlroy by four shots in the third round to take a one-shot lead into the final day of the $3 million Dubai Desert Classic.

Starting his third round on Saturday trailing leader McIlroy by three shots, the 22-year-old Li put together a superb round of eight-under-par 64 to finish on 20-under after 54 holes.

Four-time major champion McIlroy came back to the course early in the morning to complete his second round and made five birdies in seven holes.

However, he could not get going in the third round and found himself one-over at the turn. But a much better back nine gave him a third-round 68 and three-day tally of 19-under 197.

Frenchman Alex Levy had a hole in one at the fourth en route to a 65, and he is tied third at 17 under par with South African youngster Haydn Porteous, who also shot 65. England’s Andy Sullivan made a big move with a 63 to rise to fifth place at 200.

Li made four birdies on either half of the golf course and never looked in trouble because of his impressive ball-striking. Even when he was not hitting it close, his short game saved him on a couple of occasions, including a good up-and-down on the 14th hole.

“Played really solid. Especially had a couple up-and-downs and was quite happy to shoot eight-under on this course,” said Li, who will become the first male Chinese player to crack the top 50 in the world rankings if he goes on to win.

“I just wanted to play by myself and play my game. I thought if I just stayed patient, I will play good. So just did that all day.”

McIlroy, winner of the tournament in 2009 and 2015, is looking to become the second three-time champion here after Ernie Els.

A couple of loose drives resulted in a par on the par-5 third hole and a bogey on the par-4 eighth, and there was another dropped shot on the par-3 fourth hole.

But the world number 11, who made a comeback to competitive golf after more than 100 days out last week in Abu Dhabi, fought back on the back nine.

“Hopefully that’s the bad one out of the way. I didn’t get off to too bad a start, just a couple of loose ones. Missed a short one on the fourth and made bogey on eighth,” said McIlroy.

“That wasn’t too good. But to come back with a 5-under back nine was good. It was good to knock that birdie in at the last and stay within one of Li.

“I’ll probably need to play a bit better tomorrow to win, but you know, it’s two weeks into the season and I’ve given myself a second chance to win a tournament. Looking forward to tomorrow.”

Levy aced the par-3 fourth hole and made five consecutive birdies from the ninth hole in his 65, while Porteous closed with three birdies in his last three holes.

Pos.	Player	Nat	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Haotong Li	CHN	-20	66	66	64	196
2	Rory McIlroy	NIR	-19	65	64	68	197
T3	Alexander Levy	FRA	-17	67	67	65	199
T3	Haydn Porteous	RSA	-17	66	68	65	199
5	Andy Sullivan	ENG	-16	67	70	63	200
6	David Horsey	ENG	-15	63	70	68	201
T7	Branden Grace	RSA	-14	68	65	69	202
T7	Chris Paisley	ENG	-14	65	69	68	202
T7	David Lipsky	USA	-14	69	66	67	202
T7	Dylan Frittelli	RSA	-14	69	67	66	202
T7	Jeung-Hun Wang	KOR	-14	69	66	67	202
T7	Rafael Cabrera Bello	ESP	-14	69	69	64	202
T7	Thorbjorn Olesen	DEN	-14	67	68	67	202
T7	Tyrrell Hatton	ENG	-14	64	72	66	202

Round 2 – Donaldson retains clubhouse lead as play suspended

January 26, 2018

Jamie Donaldson overcame a frustrating fog-enduced delayed start to add a three-under par 69 to his overnight 62 and retain the clubhouse lead in the incomplete Dubai Desert Classic second round on Friday.

Start of play in the morning was delayed by two hours and 50 minutes, but that did not seem to affect the 42-year-old Welshman, who followed up a low round with a solid 69 to tally 13-under par for his two rounds and lead by one shot over China’s Li Haotong (66).

None of the players in the afternoon session were able to finish their second round.

Among those on the course were Rory McIlroy (10-under par after 11 holes), defending champion Sergio Garcia (six-under after 11), world No10 Henrik Stenson (seven-under after 11) and Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood (five-under after 10).

South Africa’s Branden Grace (65) was in third place at 11-under par 133.

Spain’s 54-year-old Miguel Angel Jimenez, already the oldest champion on the European Tour, shot a 68 despite a double bogey to join Thomas Aiken (67) at 10-under par.

Donaldson, who has not won on the European Tour since the Czech Masters in August 2014 and has dropped to 292nd in the world rankings, made four birdies and a solitary bogey on the par-3 11th hole.

He reflected: “I am quite happy with a 69. It was pretty solid again. Drove the ball well. Iron shots were good. Took the birdies generally when I hit it close enough. Could have played the par 5s maybe a little bit better.”

Li made just one par on his back nine – the front nine of the golf course – and had 10 birdies in his round.

The pleasant surprise was the effort by Jimenez, who won this tournament in 2010 but nowadays concentrates mostly on the Seniors Tour.

The cigar-smoking Spaniard had a late double bogey – on the par-3 seventh (his 16th hole of the day after starting from 10th) – but that was his only blemish of the day.

“I always enjoy Dubai very much, with this beautiful weather and these conditions, and the golf course is one that I always like to play,” said Jimenez, who is playing his 30th season on the European Tour.

“My game is nice. I hit it very nice, solid, and controlled the ball. That’s what you need to do here. I’ve won here before and I feel like I can defend myself with my game on this golf course, and here we are.”

The players will return to the course to finish their second round at 0330 GMT Saturday ahead of the third round.

Pos.	Player	Nat	Hole	To Par	R1	R2	Total
1	Jamie Donaldson	WAL	18	-13	62	69	131
2	Haotong Li	CHN	18	-12	66	66	132
T3	Branden Grace	RSA	18	-11	68	65	133
T3	Alexander Bjoerk	SWE	12	-11	65	–	65
T5	Miguel Angel Jimenez	ESP	18	-10	66	68	134
T5	Thomas Aiken	RSA	18	-10	67	67	134
T5	Rory McIlroy	NIR	11	-10	65	–	65
T8	Alejandro Canizares	ESP	18	-9	67	68	135
T8	Jeung-Hun Wang	KOR	18	-9	69	66	135
T8	Trevor Immelman	RSA	18	-9	69	66	135
T8	Chris Paisley	ENG	13	-9	65	–	65
T8	Lasse Jensen	DNK	13	-9	65	–	65
T8	David Horsey	ENG	7	-9	63	–	63

Round 1 – Jamie Donaldson takes Dubai lead with 10-under 62

January 25, 2018

Jamie Donaldson led the Dubai Desert Classic with a first round 10-under par 62 on Thursday with two-time winner Rory McIlroy three shots off the Welsh leader.

With hardly any wind at Emirates Golf Club, a slew of low scores were produced, none better than the 42-year-old Donaldson who has a one-shot lead over English duo David Horsey and Anthony Wall.

Another Englishman, Tyrrell Hatton, was fourth at 64, with the tournament’s headline act McIlroy among a group of five players tied fifth at seven-under par 65.

Spain’s world number 8 Sergio Garcia, the defending champion, opened with a five-under par 67.

Last week’s champion in Abu Dhabi and reigning European number one Tommy Fleetwood made 69 while world No10 Henrik Stenson submitted a card of 70 after a late double bogey.

Donaldson, who won in Abu Dhabi in 2013 and represented Europe in the 2014 Ryder Cup in Gleneagles as then world No23, has endured a disappointing couple of years which saw his world ranking slip to 292.

After starting from the 10th tee, Donaldson was bogey-free for his round with an eagle on the par-5 13th and moved to 11-under par after four birdies in a row from the fourth hole onwards.

With two holes to play, he had a shot at Ernie Els’s 24-year-old course record of 61, and more importantly, a chance to shoot the first-ever 59 on the European Tour.

He almost holed his chip from the edge of the green for a birdie before settling for par on the eighth hole, and then closed with a bogey on the ninth after hitting his drive into the fairway bunker.

“I didn’t know the course record. I was only thinking of 59, really. Probably shouldn’t really be thinking that. Should have been concentrating on hitting fairways and hitting greens, giving myself chances,” said Donaldson, whose last of three wins on the European Tour came at the Czech Masters in August 2014.

“I don’t know, I fancied it. Wasn’t to be. I knew I had to chip that one in on the eighth. It was close. Didn’t go in and that was it then.

“But I’m very happy with how I’ve played.

“59 is only a bonus, isn’t it? It’s icing on the cake. Everybody wants to shoot 59, but it’s something that is only if you’re playing really good golf, and that’s gone now. Now, it’s just a case of more of the same moving on.”

McIlroy said the conditions were benign and he was glad to make the most of it.

“I don’t think you could have got better conditions out there.

“The greens in the morning are perfect and there wasn’t much wind for probably the first 12 or 13 holes. So you needed to take advantage of it. Thankfully I was able to do that,” said the world No.11.

“It was nice to get off to a good start that way and sort of put yourself right in contention in the tournament straightaway.

“That’s honestly one of my goals this year. I feel like started off last year a little bit sort of 71, 70, instead of getting right into the thick of things from the start. So it’s been nice to start the last couple weeks like that.”

As many as 117 players in the field of 132 shot par or better.

Pos.	Player	Nat	To Par	R1
1	Jamie Donaldson	WAL	-10	62
T2	Anthony Wall	ENG	-9	63
T2	David Horsey	ENG	-9	63
4	Tyrrell Hatton	ENG	-8	64
T5	Alexander Bjoerk	SWE	-7	65
T5	Chris Paisley	ENG	-7	65
T5	Lasse Jensen	DNK	-7	65
T5	Rory McIlroy	NIR	-7	65
T5	Thomas Pieters	BEL	-7	65

Scores

Pos.	Player	Nat	To Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Haotong Li	CHN	-23	66	66	64	69	265
2	Rory McIlroy	NIR	-22	65	64	68	69	266
3	Tyrrell Hatton	ENG	-20	64	72	66	66	268
4	Alexander Levy	FRA	-19	67	67	65	70	269
5	Chris Paisley	ENG	-17	65	69	68	69	271
T6	Alexander Bjoerk	SWE	-16	65	68	70	69	272
T6	Andy Sullivan	ENG	-16	67	70	63	72	272
T6	Byeong-Hun An	KOR	-16	72	67	65	68	272
T6	Chris Hanson	ENG	-16	67	70	70	65	272
T6	David Lipsky	USA	-16	69	66	67	70	272
T6	Dylan Frittelli	RSA	-16	69	67	66	70	272
T6	Henrik Stenson	SWE	-16	70	64	70	68	272
T6	Ian Poulter	ENG	-16	68	70	65	69	272
T6	Jason Scrivener	AUS	-16	70	68	68	66	272
T6	Jeung-Hun Wang	KOR	-16	69	66	67	70	272
T6	Rafael Cabrera Bello	ESP	-16	69	69	64	70	272
T6	Richie Ramsay	SCO	-16	70	69	69	64	272
T6	Tommy Fleetwood	ENG	-16	69	69	66	68	272
T19	Haydn Porteous	RSA	-15	66	68	65	74	273
T19	Martin Kaymer	GER	-15	68	69	67	69	273
T19	Miguel Angel Jimenez	ESP	-15	66	68	69	70	273
T22	Adrian Otaegui	ESP	-14	70	69	69	66	274
T22	Alejandro Canizares	ESP	-14	67	68	70	69	274
T22	Anthony Wall	ENG	-14	63	73	72	66	274
T22	David Horsey	ENG	-14	63	70	68	73	274
T22	Dean Burmester	RSA	-14	67	69	69	69	274
T22	Sam Brazel	AUS	-14	68	70	68	68	274
T22	Thomas Detry	BEL	-14	68	66	69	71	274
T29	Andrew Dodt	AUS	-13	67	69	68	71	275
T29	Pat Perez	USA	-13	69	69	67	70	275
T29	Thorbjorn Olesen	DEN	-13	67	68	67	73	275
T32	Bernd Wiesberger	AUT	-12	67	70	70	69	276
T32	Maximilian Kieffer	GER	-12	70	68	68	70	276
T32	Sergio Garcia	ESP	-12	67	69	69	71	276
T32	Thomas Pieters	BEL	-12	65	74	70	67	276
T32	Trevor Immelman	RSA	-12	69	66	71	70	276
T37	Ashun Wu	CHI	-11	68	68	70	71	277
T37	Branden Grace	RSA	-11	68	65	69	75	277
T37	Brett Rumford	AUS	-11	68	70	66	73	277
T37	Gregory Havret	FRA	-11	70	68	67	72	277
T37	Lasse Jensen	DNK	-11	65	68	70	74	277
T37	Matt Wallace	ENG	-11	69	66	73	69	277
T37	Romain Wattel	FRA	-11	69	70	70	68	277
T37	Scott Hend	AUS	-11	71	66	68	72	277
T45	Andrew Johnston	ENG	-10	69	66	72	71	278
T45	Edoardo Molinari	ITA	-10	67	69	69	73	278
T45	Gavin Green	MAS	-10	70	68	71	69	278
T45	Jamie Donaldson	WAL	-10	62	69	75	72	278
T45	Nino Bertasio	ITA	-10	70	69	69	70	278
T45	Ross Fisher	ENG	-10	69	69	69	71	278
T51	Ashley Chesters	ENG	-9	70	69	67	73	279
T51	Kiradech Aphibarnrat	THA	-9	71	68	70	70	279
T51	Nicolas Colsaerts	BEL	-9	69	68	68	74	279
T51	Robert Karlsson	SWE	-9	69	70	68	72	279
T51	Scott Jamieson	SCO	-9	68	70	70	71	279
T51	Thomas Aiken	RSA	-9	67	67	69	76	279
T57	Matthew Southgate	ENG	-7	68	68	71	74	281
T57	Mikko Ilonen	FIN	-7	68	70	71	72	281
T57	Phachara Khongwatmai	THA	-7	68	71	71	71	281
T57	Stephen Gallacher	SCO	-7	71	68	71	71	281
T61	Lucas Bjerregaard	DNK	-6	71	68	70	73	282
T61	Mikko Korhonen	FIN	-6	68	71	70	73	282
T61	Shubhankar Sharma	IND	-6	69	69	71	73	282
64	Lee Slattery	ENG	-5	69	70	72	72	283
T65	Andres Romero	ARG	-4	70	67	70	77	284
T65	Daniel Im	USA	-4	68	71	72	73	284
67	Richard Sterne	RSA	-3	70	68	74	73	285
68	Todd Clements	ENG	-2	69	70	71	76	286
69	Daan Huizing	NED	Par	69	70	77	72	288
DSQ	Matthieu Pavon	FRA	Par	71	68	74	–	213
CUT	Connor Syme	SCO	-4	70	70	–	–	140
CUT	Daniel Brooks	ENG	-4	72	68	–	–	140
CUT	Ernie Els	RSA	-4	70	70	–	–	140
CUT	Graeme McDowell	NIR	-4	72	68	–	–	140
CUT	Henric Sturehed	SWE	-4	71	69	–	–	140
CUT	James Morrison	ENG	-4	72	68	–	–	140
CUT	Joost Luiten	NED	-4	71	69	–	–	140
CUT	Jorge Campillo	ESP	-4	70	70	–	–	140
CUT	Lee Westwood	ENG	-4	71	69	–	–	140
CUT	Louis Oosthuizen	RSA	-4	69	71	–	–	140
CUT	Matthew Fitzpatrick	ENG	-4	73	67	–	–	140
CUT	Michael Lorenzo-Vera	FRA	-4	69	71	–	–	140
CUT	Paul Dunne	IRL	-4	66	74	–	–	140
CUT	Paul Lawrie	SCO	-4	68	72	–	–	140
CUT	Richard Bland	ENG	-4	69	71	–	–	140
CUT	Sean Crocker	USA	-4	69	71	–	–	140
CUT	Alvaro Quiros	ESP	-3	74	67	–	–	141
CUT	Chris Wood	ENG	-3	71	70	–	–	141
CUT	Colin Montgomerie	SCO	-3	72	69	–	–	141
CUT	Darren Fichardt	RSA	-3	66	75	–	–	141
CUT	George Coetzee	RSA	-3	74	67	–	–	141
CUT	Gregory Bourdy	FRA	-3	69	72	–	–	141
CUT	Joakim Lagergren	SWE	-3	71	70	–	–	141
CUT	Renato Paratore	ITA	-3	69	72	–	–	141
CUT	Ricardo Melo Gouveia	POR	-3	72	69	–	–	141
CUT	Shiv Chawrasia	IND	-3	70	71	–	–	141
CUT	Thomas Bjorn	DEN	-3	71	70	–	–	141
CUT	Wade Ormsby	AUS	-3	72	69	–	–	141
CUT	Aaron Rai	ENG	-2	70	72	–	–	142
CUT	Benjamin Hebert	FRA	-2	74	68	–	–	142
CUT	Eddie Pepperell	ENG	-2	71	71	–	–	142
CUT	Jamie Elson	ENG	-2	68	74	–	–	142
CUT	Luke Joy	ENG	-2	71	71	–	–	142
CUT	Matteo Manassero	ITA	-2	69	73	–	–	142
CUT	Paul Waring	ENG	-2	73	69	–	–	142
CUT	Ryan Fox	NZL	-2	71	71	–	–	142
CUT	Thongchai Jaidee	THA	-2	70	72	–	–	142
CUT	Brandon Stone	RSA	-1	72	71	–	–	143
CUT	Hideto Tanihara	JPN	-1	72	71	–	–	143
CUT	Pablo Larrazabal	ESP	-1	70	73	–	–	143
CUT	Robert Rock	ENG	-1	70	73	–	–	143
CUT	Sam Horsfield	ENG	-1	71	72	–	–	143
CUT	Zander Lombard	RSA	-1	73	70	–	–	143
CUT	Marcel Siem	GER	Par	68	76	–	–	144
CUT	Soren Kjeldsen	DEN	Par	72	72	–	–	144
CUT	Ahmed Marjan	MAR	1	74	71	–	–	145
CUT	Fabrizio Zanotti	PAR	1	69	76	–	–	145
CUT	Jack Singh-Brar	ENG	1	73	72	–	–	145
CUT	Marc Warren	SCO	1	70	75	–	–	145
CUT	Austin Connelly	CAN	2	72	74	–	–	146
CUT	Jason Norris	AUS	2	69	77	–	–	146
CUT	Jordan Smith	ENG	2	73	73	–	–	146
CUT	Marcus Fraser	AUS	2	76	70	–	–	146
CUT	Callum Shinkwin	ENG	3	75	72	–	–	147
CUT	Nacho Elvira	ESP	3	69	78	–	–	147
CUT	Oliver Fisher	ENG	3	70	77	–	–	147
CUT	Carlos Pigem	ESP	4	72	76	–	–	148
CUT	Danny Willett	ENG	4	77	71	–	–	148
CUT	Graeme Storm	ENG	5	74	75	–	–	149
CUT	Soo-Min Lee	KOR	5	72	77	–	–	149
CUT	Rayhan Thomas	IND	6	73	77	–	–	150
CUT	Darren Clarke	NIR	8	75	77	–	–	152