McIlroy edges Reed in Dubai Herbert 3rd
McIlroy – enjoys his third Dubai victory – photo Getty Images
Whatever way it is viewed, the final day of the 2023 Hero Dubai Desert Classic became a tournament promoter’s dream.
The two protagonists in a petty spat earlier in the week, Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed, found themselves head to head against each other over the closing nine holes of the event, McIlroy finding it hard to contain his glee when holing a 14 foot sliding downhill left to right putt at the 72nd hole to take the title by one over Reed.
Reed had approached McIlroy, his caddie and his coach on the driving range on Tuesday to seemingly break some ice that had been developing essentially over Reed’s involvement with LIV Golf and McIlroy’s opposition to it and the pursuit of legal action by Reed’s legal team on McIlroy.
While McIlroy’s caddie shook Reed’s hand, McIlroy essentially snubbed Reed and, as he walked away, Reed threw a tee in McIlroy’s direction. It was perhaps more innocent than it was made out to be but clearly became the subject of a lot of media speculation and a source of tension throughout the week.
So to Monday, which had developed into the final day of the event due to weather disruptions earlier in the week.
Reed, playing in the second to last group, began the final round four shots behind McIlroy but through 13 holes he was 7 under for the round and had drawn level with the Northern Irishman. Both players dropped at shot over the closing holes but birdies at the 17th and 18th by McIlroy saw him move ahead of Reed who had drawn level again when he birdied the last.
McIlroy, who needed to make birdie or better at the 72nd hole to win and avoid a playoff, missed the fairway and, in fact, was lucky to not find the water along the right side of the fairway in the landing zone for a long drive. He was unable to get enough club on the awkward lie to allow him to seriously consider taking on the water short of the green and so layed up to 90 yards and then pitched to 14 feet.
Needing putt to win, McIlroy steeled himself and holed the snaking putt to take his third Dubai Desert Classic title.
McIlroy was doing his best to contain his emotions after the win but it was hard to ignore his clear satisfaction in getting across the line and his need to put the much discussed issues aside. It might be a bit much to suggest but it was to some extent a win by the non-LIV Golf fraternity over LIV.
“I think mentally today was probably one of the toughest rounds I’ve ever had to play because it would be really easy to let your emotions get in the way and I just had to really concentrate on focusing on myself. Forget who was up there on the leaderboard, and I did that really, really well.
“I really feel like I haven’t had my best all week but I just managed my game so well and played really smart. Even that second shot at the last there, you know, I was in two minds. I probably could have got to the green but seeing what happened yesterday and what happened last year, giving myself a wedge to try to get up-and-down to try to get the win.
“Just ecstatic that I gave myself an opportunity the first week back out and yeah again as I said I managed my game well. I definitely feel like there’s tons of room for improvement but it’s a great start to the year.
“I feel like I showed a lot of mental strength out there today, and again, something to really build on for the rest of the year.”
Reed is very much a polarizing figure but whatever your stand is on the rights and wrongs of the way he goes about his business that he was able to force McIlroy to birdie the last to win in such a dramatic week tells the story of an incredibly tough character.
Three LIV golfers finished inside the top ten. Reed, Ian Poulter(6th) and Henrik Stenson (8th) added fuel to the fire of an ongoing debate.
Australian Lucas Herbert, the winner of this event three years ago, produced a final round of 66 to finish alone in third position and two from the winner.
Herbert was playing his first event of 2023 after finishing 2022 with a top 10 at the Australian Open after a messy finish to his final round when contending for the title.
Herbert improves form 67th to 53rd in the world ranking.
“Yeah, it’s promising signs,” said Herbert. “It still feels like there’s some work to do and I can get better than what I produced this week. So that’s exciting. You know, to finish third here in this quality field or second or fourth or wherever it finishes, to do that in sort of quality field, I think it’s good signs ahead for 2023.
“I’m happy with that finish. I felt like we were probably almost playing for second going into the day. It’s pretty hard to spot Rory five shots and try and chase him down to win a tournament.”
