By Kent Gray
With 54 holes still to play and a leaderboard dotted with so many pedigreed names, Richard Sterne has a long way to go before he can even contemplate hoisting the fabled Dallah trophy.

Even so, the 39-year-old South African feels closer to victory than he has in an awfully long time after opening the 32nd OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic with a sizzling eight-under 64.

He’ll take a one stroke lead over American Kurt Kitayama into Friday’s second round and hope that a title drought spanning eight long years might soon be over. Mind you, 2017 champion Sergio Garcia and Justin Harding are tied third after 66s and Paul Casey (67), Tommy Fleetwood (68) and Lee Westwood (69), among decorated others, lurk ominously.

Solid start today at -6. Looking to keep the run going here tomorrow @OMEGAGolfDubai for round 2. ?? pic.twitter.com/isum5n6wrl

— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) January 28, 2021

“It’s always good to get off to a good start. It helps you for the rest of the week,” said Sterne who has history at Emirates Golf Club, a runner-up finish to Stephen Gallacher in 2013, to draw further inspiration from.

“I haven’t had many chances going into weekends for a long time, so it would be nice to get through tomorrow and place myself well and see how the weekend goes.”

RELATED: Sergio Garcia’s opening round was a Majlis masterclass

The last of Sterne’s six European Tour titles came at the 2013 Joburg Open. He managed just seven starts last season, partly due to the pandemic but mostly because of wrist surgery.

“I played the last few events last year, which I actually played pretty decently considering I had not played for so long. And then finishing 25th last week gave me a lot of confidence. I’m just trying to watch my back, so I haven’t put much preparation into this week. Just got nine holes in Tuesday and I didn’t even come to the course yesterday.

“When I was in trouble [today], I got out of it and made some good par putts and kept the round going. I hit a lot golf shots, as well, made quite a few birdies.”

Nine of them in fact. A few more on Friday will ensure a fun weekend awaits.

READ MORE:
OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic ‘Daily News’ preview edition
OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic ‘Daily News’ round 1 edition

The post In just his fifth event back after wrist surgery, Richard Sterne is on top in Dubai appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

South African Richard Sterne leads after nine birdies in a brilliant 64, by a shot from American Kurt Kitayama. Plenty of big names lurk.

Get up to speed with all the first round reaction in our bumper 20-page OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic magazine, again produced by the Golf Digest Middle East team, here.

Scroll through the ISSUU link below and/or download Friday’s ODDC ‘Daily News’ to your favourite device to read offline and keep for prosperity.

This was a historic OMEGA Dubai Dubai Classic after all, the 30th edition held on the Majlis (after two editions at sister-club Dubai Creek in 1999 and 2000) as the UAE celebrates its Golden Jubilee.

The post Friday’s OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic Daily News is FREE here appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
They don’t give away €1.02 million easily in golf. Just ask Shane Lowry.

The 36-year-old survived a rollercoaster final round battle with Richard Stern to claim the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Saturday, a maiden Rolex Series title that took his European Tour tally to four – as many years as it’s been since his last win at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Lowry needed a two-putt birdie on Abu Dhabi Golf Club’s 18th green to finally see off his gritty South African rival in one of the most dramatic, and surely the most topsy-turvy, final rounds in the 14-year history of the Desert Swing opener.

“I didn’t think I had that in me today,” the tournament’s first Irish winner said after signing for a closing one-under 71 to finish -18 for the championship, a shot clear of Sterne (69).

Lowry did somehow conjure up the necessary mental fortitude to go wire-to-wire but had to dig deep after seeing his three shot overnight lead evaporate inside the first three holes of Saturday’s windswept final round, as Sterne opened with three successive birdies in a blistering start of four gains in five holes.

He’s done it!??? @ShaneLowryGolf wins the @ADGolfChamps! #ADGolfChamps #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/qXG1nWhBVC

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 19, 2019

Struggling with an ugly duck hook off the tee, Lowry made the turn on The National in 37 strokes to Stern’s 31 (five under) and trailed by as many as four when he bogeyed the 11th. But Lowry’s outward topsy turned to Sterne’s inward turvy in the final eight holes and it came as little surprise that the Irishman’s comeback was triggered on the par-3 12th with a near tap-in birdie.

Lowry negotiated 16 trips to the National’s par-3s in a combined 10 under this week – and that included a bogey on the 4th Friday. The gain on 12 cut Sterne’s lead to three and it was two when Lowry nailed back-to-back birdies after draining a long putt on the 13th.

A three-putt bogey on the next suddenly saw Sterne’s buffer sliced to one and they were tied standing on the 17th tee after the South African, chasing his first title since the 2013 Joburg Open, short-sided himself in a greenside bunker on the 16th and left his par putt from off the putting surface on the edge of the cup.

Lowry will long remember the par-3s but his brilliant up-and-down for par on 17, after pushing his second from a fairway bunker towards a Rolex hoarding that had to be removed so he could play his third shot, will linger in the final wash-up of this absorbing dogfight. Left with a 15-footer for par, Lowry exhaled a huge sigh of relief when his ball took a half lap of the cup before disappearing below earth.

The final #ADGolfChamps leaderboard…

Full Results: https://t.co/Lriqf8DsSL pic.twitter.com/taZKEm7PR3

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 19, 2019

The drama continued on 18 after both players, tied at -17, split the fairway. Sterne had the honour from 286 yards on the par-5 but carved his five wood right onto the cart-part splitting the 9th and final greens. With the assistance of a couple of alignment sticks drawn from Sterne’s bag, rules official John Paramor helped the South African take relief from the bricks but even though he drew a sporting lie from one of those awkward new knee-high drops, the 37-year-old was still short-sided and had to settle for a two-putt par.

Lowry, meanwhile, had slid a beautiful three-wood from 281 yards to the heart of the final green and held his nerve as Sterne went through the process of getting relief. The world No.75 left himself a knee-knocker from two-feet for the title but wasn’t going to buckle after such a hard day at the office, a result that will see him climb back into the world’s top-40 when the OWGR are recalculated on Monday.

281 yards. Tournament on the line.

Step up @ShaneLowryGolf… pic.twitter.com/srYGAPsi4m

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 19, 2019

“Obviously it’s great to have a Rolex Series win beside my name now. I get the gold bib and get the star there,” Lowry said afterwards.

“We’re very lucky to be able to play such big events on The European Tour and Rolex have done a great job. All the players, I can vouch for them and say we’re very grateful to be playing for the types of money we are in the events we’re playing in. So yeah, I’m just over the moon to have won.”

Brilliant by Shane, a win in the toughest possible way pillar to post. Back where he needs to be. https://t.co/9UlE85ZHmk

— Padraig Harrington (@padraig_h) January 19, 2019

The post Lowry goes wire-to-wire but not before wobbly final day in Abu Dhabi appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

It was a topsy-turvy slugfest of a final round, with the world number 281 starting hot out the blocks. He birdied four of his first five holes, working his way into a tie at the top with almost permanent tournament leader, Shane Lowry.

But for a loose 5-wood on the 72nd hole leaking right and ending up on cart path (from which he got a rather friendly knee-height drop), it could have been the South African Sterne atop the Rolex Series event leaderboard. Instead the Irishman, who drilled in a low cut 3-wood from four yards ahead of Sterne’s first drop of the hole (from a fairway sprinkler head) and made birdie on the last, claimed the Falcon trophy.

“I got off to a hell of a start to be honest, a little unexpected,” Sterne said. “I enjoyed the start. Front nine was really good, I made a few crucial putts and the back nine, I don’t know, a couple things didn’t go my way and Shane made a couple good putts here and there.

“The 17 was a great putt and the shot he hit into 18 was world-class. It was just out of reach with my 5-wood. I was thinking about taking driver off the deck.”

The 37-year old was looking to claim his seventh European Tour win, his first since the Joburg Open six years ago, but an unfortunate yardage left the ball in his opponent’s court.

“We’re pretty much the same yardage. He’s just got a 3-wood and I had 5-wood. I didn’t have a 3-wood in this week, and 284 is a little stretch for a 5-wood. I tried it and it didn’t come off. He hit a great shot and all credit to him.”

Sterne has a lot to be proud of coming out of this week, scoring his first top-10 since Sep. 2017, and taking home $777, 770. The lack of success on the Tour in recent years has not gone unnoticed, and he is clearly happy to have been back in the mix for top spot.

“I’m just glad that I gave a good performance this week with a strong field. It’s been a while since I’ve had a decent tournament, so I’m pretty happy with the way I performed. I hit the ball really well. I was up there most of the week and stayed up there the whole tournament basically, and I had a chance right down to the last.

“I’m looking forward to the next few weeks now. I’m feeling good and obviously a little bit sore with not pulling it off here but you know, life carries on.”

The post Richard shows he’s made of Sterne Stuff after Abu Dhabi heartache: “Life carries on” appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Irishman starts the final round with a three shot lead over Richard Sterne and a serious shot at winning wire-to-wire.

By Kent Gray
Shane Lowry went into Wednesday with “not much expectation”, survived a “weird” Thursday to fight again on Friday, much of which he did rather brilliantly from the rough.

The Irishman’s first round at the 14th Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA produced a magical course record equaling 62, the second a holding pattern 70 and the third a “very comfortable” 67 despite all the hard work from the lush stuff.

If he can wrap it all up with another score in the 60s, Lowry could very well be €1,02 million better off come Saturday evening. He’ll feel even richer for a CV that would suddenly have a Rolex Series title to go a WGC crown and two other European Tour gongs, the first of them in his home Irish Open as an amateur.

“We’re in a world-class field here this week so I know they are going to come out firing tomorrow,” Lowry said after extending his halfway lead from one shot over Louis Oosthuizen to three strokes over another South African, Richard Sterne.

“So I need to stay aggressive and try to make as many birdies as I can and see where that leaves me on the 18th green. I felt very comfortable out there today and very happy with that. Very excited about tomorrow.”

Comfort is a relative thing at Abu Dhabi Golf Club even if you’re 17 under par through 54 holes. Lowry spent much of the third round in the rough – missing eight of 14 fairways – yet was still able to override two bogeys with seven birdies.

Much of the good work was achieved when he needn’t worry about finding fairways; the 31-year-old from County Offaly is eight under in par three scoring this week, his only blemish on the short holes coming at the 4th on Friday, the first of those two pesky but thus far inconsequential bogeys.

“I just started laughing when I birdied 15,” Lowry said of making his ninth two in 12 visits to The Nationals par 3s this week.

“My iron play has been good. I think if you go back to Race to Dubai [Jumeirah Golf Estates in Nov.], I was six-under par for the par 3s that tournament, and it’s just been good. I managed to hole a few good putts, as well. Play the par 3s well and the par 5s as well, and you should shoot a decent score.

You must wish you could wipe out the other holes and just play the par-3s on Saturday?

“I’m not going to say I feel invincible [on the par 3s] because we all know that this game is not easy, and it can jump up and bite you when you least expect it.

“So I’m just trying to go out and do what I’ve been doing. It just shows when I get myself in position, I can give myself chances and that’s kind of what I need to do.”

Lowry has finished first, second and tied second after holding 36-hole leads. He’s a round closer now but knows he’s in for a, ahem, Sterne test on Saturday.

Highlighted by a chip-in eagle on the 10th, Sterne added a 68 to earlier efforts of 65 and 68 and is first in greens in regulation through 54 holes.

He clearly has his game in good shape for a shot at Shane and a seventh European Tour title which would end a near six year title drought since the 2013 Joburg Open.

“It’s nice to be in contention. It’s been a long time. I’ve managed to win a few in my life, so hopefully there’s something left there and if we can have a chance coming down the last five or six…that would be a nice way to finish,” Stern said.

Ian Poulter, with an eagle three exclamation mark on his third round 69, will keep both Lowry and Sterne honest if he can keep the momentum going – and awake presumably given his 34-hour door-to-door trip to Abu Dhabi from PGA Tour duty in Hawaii. The Ryder Cup legend is five back, a shot better than Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal who is just as capable of a streaky final round charge as Poulter.

Lee Westwood is set to rue two front nine double bogeys in a 73 that saw him slip out of serious contention to -9 alongside Brooks Koepka. Westwood won’t be as disappointed as Oosthuizen though after the 2010 Open champion tumbled from second through 36 holes to a share of 20th overnight with five bogeys in a 75.

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