Tommy Fleetwood wins in Dubai as Rory McIlroy falters on No. 18

Jan 14, 2024, 07:45 AM ET

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Tommy Fleetwood benefitted from two huge errors on the back nine from Rory McIlroy and produced his own strong finish to win the Dubai Invitational following a back-and-forth final-round duel on Sunday.

McIlroy had already three-putted from 2 feet at No. 14 by the time he reached the 18th tee with a one-shot lead over Fleetwood and pulled his drive into the water.

Fleetwood followed that by driving into the middle of the fairway and sent his approach to 16 feet, well inside McIlroy after the world No. 2 had to take a drop.

McIlroy missed his winding putt up the hill and Fleetwood made his to shoot 67 for 19-under 265 overall, securing a first win since the Nedbank Golf Challenge in November 2022.

He was a stroke clear of McIlroy (67), who tied for second place with Thriston Lawrence (64) in the first European tour event of 2024.

“First week back out, I think you’re going to expect some of those sloppy mistakes,” McIlroy said. “Unfortunately for me, those mistakes came at the wrong time today.”

McIlroy smiled and gave Fleetwood a big hug on the 18th green after missing out on a first victory since the Scottish Open in July. They are close friends and were playing partners at the Ryder Cup last year.

McIlroy, the world No. 2, started the day a stroke back from Fleetwood, was three behind after the 10th hole but four birdies in a five-hole stretch — either side of that unfathomable three-putt on the par-3 14th — put him in a tie with Fleetwood.

After a sloppy bogey at No. 16, Fleetwood holed a birdie putt from 30 feet at the 17th to stay within one shot of McIlroy and then capitalized on his playing partner’s worst swing of the day on the 18th tee.

“It was great watching one of the world’s best golfers in Rory, the way that he was playing the back nine, the way that he attacked the back nine,” Fleetwood said. “And yeah, just up-and-down towards the end, really.

“I’m very happy,” he added. “It is amazing winning. Like almost everybody else in the world of golf, I don’t win anywhere near as much as I would like to, but just that winning feeling is great.”