– Aaron Rai (-25) has won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the first of the two play-offs of the DP World Tour, after defeating Tommy Fleetwood (-25) with a birdie on the first hole of a play-off that both Englishmen contested after submitting scorecards of 67 and 66 strokes. Rai, a granite player who usually lacks a bit of bite, thus earns the right to enter the club of ‘It’s About Time You Take Me Seriously’.
– He earns this right, firstly, because this victory, surely the most important of his career, will put him back in the top 25 in the world, as well as giving him a golden opportunity to continue climbing in the Race to Dubai, after comfortably securing his card on the PGA Tour. (he is currently 54th in the US ranking and has risen to ninth place in the European ranking, earning a spot in the Dubai Final, which he did not have secured four days ago).
But he has also earned the membership of such a unique club by the way he finished the fourth and decisive round at the beautiful and generous Yas Links Golf Club. An unexpected bogey on the 14th hole, which was not in the plans, after missing a very short putt, seemed to leave him out of the game in the final sprint, but this Englishman of Indian-African descent, who doesn’t change his expression no matter what happens on the course (he didn’t even smile or clench his fist when his victory was confirmed), responded by saving a par on the 15th from a very delicate position and then stringing together birdies on the 16th and 17th holes, before enjoying a magnificent chance on the 18th to secure victory on the 72nd hole of the tournament without needing to go to the play-off. Aaron Rai is not exactly an influencer, a charisma prodigy, and he may never be; nor is his game at first glance the most attractive or powerful in the world, but he is a long-distance runner who never stops improving and gaining positions in the long race that is high-level professional golf.
– On the other hand, nothing can be objected to Fleetwood‘s display of play on the final day, playing in the last group alongside Rai and Nicolai Hojgaard (-24). Surely something was missing, as he was not able to win, but his scorecard of 66 strokes and the composure shown once again in the decisive moments, support or justify his achievement of the Number 4 in the world, the best position of his career in the ranking of rankings. If we were to look for some small shortcoming, it could be argued that, after starting with great determination (beginning with a birdie on the 1st and an eagle on the 2nd), he lacked some resolution or finesse to leave the ball a little closer to the flag in that first half of the Emirati course, and then, in the second half, he missed some putts from much more than reasonable distances. Well, those are small nuances. What criticism, really, can be made of a guy who has signed just one bogey in 72 holes, no matter how easy the course was?
– Ahead of the star group, Rory McIlroy (-24) had already done his thing with a round of 62 strokes, the best of the week, which was only going to fall slightly short. The Northern Irishman is in an impressive moment of maturity, so you can always expect the best version of him, no matter where he comes from or what chances he has of winning, which in this case were very slim, to say the least. He didn’t always handle this aspect of golf with the poise he does today, but he is in the Emirates to win the Race to Dubai again, to do it for the seventh time, and today he demonstrated it with a six-under-par on the back nine, among other things.
– It is also worth highlighting the effervescence and power of Nicolai Hojgaard‘s play, who was still putting for eagle on the 18th from just over four metres to go to the play-off. Meanwhile, Nacho Elvira (-21) was actually closer than his final record suggests, as he reached the tee of the 15th hole fully involved in the fight for victory, handling the stress of needing to make birdies to avoid an early exit with ease up to that point. The Cantabrian arrives at the Dubai Final in good form. Just like Ángel Ayora (-20), who submitted an exuberant scorecard of 63 strokes. It is true that this spectacular final effort did not help him gain much ground in the fight for PGA Tour cards, but his weekend total of -15 certainly helps to keep the high expectations surrounding the young Andalusian.
