Jon Rahm needed one more clean par on Sunday to turn a nervy chase into his first victory since walking away from LIV Golf. He holed it.
Rahm fired a final-round 67 to win the Abu Dhabi Championship by two shots over Tyrrell Hatton, according to BBC Sport. The Spaniard finished 23 under par, Hatton 21 under, and Rory McIlroy 19 under. It was the 31-year-old two-time major winner’s first win since he announced his departure from LIV Golf, and his first win at a DP World Tour event in four years. It was also his first tournament since the birth of his fourth child last month.
Rahm made six birdies with one bogey on the final day after taking a one-shot lead into it. He told Sky Sports, as quoted by the BBC, that apart from one shot on the 17th he played a flawless back nine. He also said that after some poor play and battles mentally amid a lot of noise, coming back from a break with a new addition to his family was pretty special.
The chase fell away on the closing stretch. Francesco Laporta, who was still seeking a first DP World Tour win, made three birdies on the front nine to tie Rahm at the turn. After leaving the 11th green four under for the day, he dropped four shots in two holes and finished fourth, six strokes back. McIlroy joined Rahm and Laporta at 20 under with birdies on the 11th and 12th, then missed a birdie putt on the 13th and dropped a shot on the 15th with a wayward approach. He shot 69.
Hatton, who shot 68, briefly cut the gap to a single shot on the 15th. Rahm answered moments later by matching his birdie with a three-foot putt after a six iron to the green. Hatton’s 24-foot birdie try on the 17th stopped inches short, and Rahm then holed a par putt from under five feet.
The result matters beyond the trophy. McIlroy, 37, who received a two-shot penalty in his first round, goes into next week’s DP World Tour Championship second in the Race To Dubai standings, behind Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra, as he chases a record-equalling eighth season-long title, the BBC reported. He passed American Patrick Reed. Rahm started the week outside the top 50 in that race, and the BBC said the win keeps him in the hunt if he can win again in Dubai.
Rahm’s exit from LIV comes as the league’s own future is in doubt. As The Eastern Herald reported earlier, LIV faces liquidation after BC Partners withdrew a proposed rescue plan, according to reports.
The BBC’s report does not say what Rahm’s schedule will be after Dubai.
