Englishman Tyrrell Hatton eked past New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier to win the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour by a single shot Sunday at Emirates Golf Club.
Hatton, who joined LIV Golf last year, earned his eighth career win on the erstwhile European Tour and his fifth in the tour’s prestigious Rolex Series — tying Legion XIII teammate Jon Rahm of Spain for most all-time.
Hatton’s final round, a 3-under-par 69, vaulted him to 15 under for the event, while 54-hole leader Hillier could only manage a 71 on Sunday and took second place at 14 under.
It marked Hatton’s first win in Dubai.
“I said earlier in the week, this is one of the events that you would like to have on your C.V.,” Hatton said. “It’s such an iconic event for the DP World Tour. To add my name to the list of the amazing champions that have been before me, and yeah, to have my name on that trophy now, yeah, it’s a dream come true.”
Hatton, 33, recovered from an opening bogey by birdieing Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 10. Despite another bogey at No. 12, he reached the par-4 16th hole with a one-shot advantage over Hillier.
He stuck his approach shot to just a few feet from the pin, setting up what turned out to be the game-winning birdie.
Hatton, who was No. 17 in the Official World Golf Ranking entering the week and unable to earn ranking points in LIV events, is projected to jump into the top 10 thanks to the victory.
“This event and the four majors this year are massive for me to try and earn as many points as I can to try and be an automatic qualifier” for the European Ryder Cup team, Hatton said. “This is a big step in the right direction. So happy with that, and looking forward to the rest of the year.”
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy shot his best round of the week, a 6-under 66, for a late charge up the leaderboard. He finished in a tie for fourth at 12 under with Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard (also 66 Sunday), one behind third-place Englishman Laurie Canter (68).
It was McIlroy’s 12th consecutive top-10 finish at the event.
“I probably just left myself a bit too much to do after three days. I had chances, and I was burning the edges,” McIlroy said.
“Felt like I putted pretty well without anything going in and then (Sunday), didn’t really feel like I played that differently the way I played the last few days. I just held a couple of putts and made a couple of good up-and-downs when I had to. I feel like I got progressively better as the week went on, which bodes well for obviously the next few weeks.”
–Field Level Media
