– Patrick Reed (-14) has won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic with confidence and authority, marking his first victory in a Rolex Series tournament and also in a regular European Tour event (he had already won a Major, the 2018 Masters, and two World Golf Championships in Doral, 2014, and Mexico, in 2020). On a day that was really challenging due to the wind and the firmness of the greens, the Texan made good use of the four-shot lead he started with and comfortably secured a level-par round in the final round to leave Andy Sullivan (-10), the runner-up, far behind.
– Sullivan, indeed, climbed to that second final position with great merit and patience, closing the round with excellent birdies on holes 17 and 18, after enduring the rigours of a somewhat erratic swing for much of the round. But the Englishman was never really in a position to contend for the victory. Neither the Englishman nor anyone else, to be more precise, except for David Puig (-7), although the Spaniard’s final result might be misleading, after a lacklustre final third of the round and a final scorecard marred by a two-shot penalty for slightly grounding his club in the sand during his final bunker shot on the 18th hole.
– Puig, in fact, had reached the tee of the 13th hole with half of the comeback completed and, therefore, with serious chances of victory, just two shots behind the leader. And he had achieved it, moreover, by sweating it out, a bit hit-and-miss, with flashes of genius and talent, as it was evident from the start of the day that he wasn’t at his best, too erratic from the tee. On the 1st hole, he had already had to save par by sinking a putt of more than four metres and wouldn’t get his first birdie until the 8th hole, after missing the fairway, by the way. However, he showed all his power on the 9th, playing it very aggressively after hitting his first fairway of the day (easier said than done…) and to a pin position that took one’s breath away, securing the birdie and levelling the contest.
– Two key moments. The first: on the 11th hole, par 3, he had a great opportunity to get even closer, to just one shot, after Reed missed a short putt to save par; but he would also miss his. The second: David missed the third shot on the 13th, par 5, with a wedge in hand, sending the ball into the sand and leaving the door open for a bogey that would prove decisive, as the American executed a textbook birdie, with surgical precision, and regained a comfortable four-shot lead. It was in this stretch that the tournament slipped away from Puig, who had even managed to save a great par on the 12th after a gross miss to the right off the tee, finding the ball precariously balanced near a bush…
– There are different ways of looking at it, of course. It’s very legitimate to highlight, for example, that it was almost a small miracle that Puig reached the point he did alive, intact, and with all options on the table (technically, he only hit three fairways throughout the round). A small miracle mainly supported by his ability to recover when things go wrong from almost nothing. One had to rub their eyes to confirm that, indeed, he was one under par after the first nine holes… We will never know if Reed had another gear to shift into if needed, but the Texan finished with surgical precision, in other words, without taking unnecessary risks and with the seasoned precision of a surgeon.
– It must be emphasised, not to underestimate that winning score of 72: things were not easy today on the Majlis course at the Emirates Golf Club. The early score of 67 by Rafa Cabrera Bello (-4) ended up being by far the best of the day, and illustrious players like McIlroy (-2, round of 73), Hatton (-2, round of 71) or Hovland (-5, round of 76) are good evidence of the difficulties presented by the Dubai course today. Jorge Campillo (-4) also couldn’t quite make peace with this course, with a final round of 75 shots, although he did achieve his best final result in this tournament (19th).
– Patrick Reed, with this notable victory, is now second in the Race to Dubai and before returning or not to the PGA Tour (this week he expressed his desire to at least share the American circuit with the Saudi League), surely the final victory in the DP World Tour ranking is already a priority objective for him. He won’t mind having to play more than thirty tournaments (he already did in 2025) to defend his rights and positions wherever necessary. As for Puig… He continues to accumulate excellent performances outside of LIV, and his profile is increasingly identified with that of a shining global golf star, even beyond the data provided by the world ranking. Also beyond a dismal Sunday in the Dubai desert.
