In a tense finish, Dubai’s Paul Waring edged out the rest of the pack and wrapped the $9 million prize at the Abu Dhabi Championship on Sunday.
The Englishman’s form in the last two days has certainly left us speechless. By Friday, Waring had earned a lead of about five after he managed to score 61, whereas he could only get a 73 the next day However, on Sunday, he ended up not losing his focus and trusting himself through the final stretch, earning a W in the end.
Waring expected a difficult round to be the third and that he had succeeded in many ways. However, he lost to nerves and ended the game with a remarkable 66.
Furthermore, players like Shane Lowry, Waring and Rory McIlroy played with experience and showed their versatility after turning up the heat in the last round.
It has been six years since Dubai resident Waring has been able to comfortably win a singular title. It clearly affected him as he was caught up with Hatton, only for him to reply from 40 feet away then finishing the last time around Dubai resident Waring with ease as he claimed the winner’s paycheque.
He rockets 43 places from 48th to 5th place on the Race to Dubai Ladder.
“It just means so much to so many other things that come with that win,” said Waring, who climbs to fifth in the Race to Dubai Rankings to put himself firmly on course to claim one of the 10 PGA Tour cards on offer for 2025.
‘That said, early in the week, to actually keep control of myself in the way that I did today I’m really proud of myself, and (caddie) Alex (Evans) was absolutely amazing. Playing partner was amazing, Shane was great as was Niklas (Norgaard). I’m a bit taken aback right now,” he added,
“I’m not that emotional on golf courses. I tend not to fist-pump and I tend not to get up and down, and I tend to stay quite steady. It was actually the putt on 15, the par save. It was only five feet but it was such a solid putt. It just gave me so much confidence coming in that if I just keep hitting putts like that I’ll be fine.
“The one on 17, I could just see it tracking wholly, and just knew I was going to hole it. As soon as it left the blade, I knew it was in,” Waring added. “So yeah, it was a big moment. Big, big moment.
“I thought the second shot into 18 was absolutely perfect. To see it go long was, ‘right, I’ve still got business, still got stuff to do. So got my head back on. I’ll be honest, legs were shaking a little bit over that last putt. I just wanted to make sure that nothing else could happen and great to roll that one in on the last as well.
“I don’t want to sound over the top or anything but I felt like my golf game has been in such a good place over the last year,” said Waring.
“Just haven’t put it all together. And then this week arrives and you know what, a week for it all to come together, putting nicely, approach play was great, great off the tee. It’s nice to put it all together and get a tournament like this.”
McIlroy was first to make an early charge as the four-time Major winner birdied four of his first six holes.
Dubai resident Waring responded with back-to-back birdies to start his round and produced a superb up-and-down to save par at the fourth – the scene of his three-putt bogey from eight feet on Saturday.
English pair Matthew Jordan and Matt Wallace closed to within one of the lead with eagles at the seventh and 11th respectively but McIlroy missed a short par effort at the seventh and missed from eight feet for birdie two holes later.
Waring was millimetres away from picking up another shot at the sixth but was rewarded for an excellent bunker shot with a gain at the next.
He made another birdie from ten feet at the tenth to keep the chasing pack at bay but missed out on the par-five 11th after driving into a bunker and missed from five feet at the 13th, before lipping out with a 25-foot effort at the next.
By this point playing partner Lowry had emerged as the main threat but the Irishman almost hit his tee shot in the water at the 14th and could only find a bunker with his second before making bogey.
It was resident of Dubai Waring’s turn to scramble a par after a wayward drive at the 15th, but former winner Hatton birdied the last two to see Waring caught for the first time in two days and set the clubhouse target at 22 under.
Then came Waring’s moment of magic as he converted from 40 feet at the 17th, before hitting a perfect drive at the last, running a three-wood through the back of the green and getting up and down to seal victory with a 24-under total.