For many of those in contention, however, there will be obvious and surely lingering regrets. None of those who looked most likely to offer potent challenges to overnight leader Scott Jamieson ended up breaking par, never mind 70. All of which meant the relatively fast-finishing (!) Rafa Cabrera-Bello (70) and Shubhankar Sharma (71) ended up in second place, one-shot back of the new champion.

Starting one-shot off the pace, Shane Lowry’s outward half of 40 contained a brace of 7s. The inward half wasn’t a lot better either. In the end, the former Open champion’s 77 saw him fall to a T-12 finish.

MORE: Shane Lowry says he suffered Ryder Cup blues—’I actually felt sick. I felt rundown.’

Viktor Hovland eventually came up two-shots shy of Pieters in a tie for fourth place alongside Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and will surely look back on the triple bogey he made at the par-4 third hole and the double-bogey 6 on the 15th as the primary reasons for that failure.

Jamieson wasn’t immune either. Far from it. Four bogeys in the first five holes set the Scot who had been leading each of the first three days back on his heels. And despite subsequent steadiness, his weight never again returned to his toes. His forlorn 77 left him tied 10th.

Still, none of the above was bothering Pieters. The soon-to-be 30-year-old Belgian (his birthday is Jan. 27), a veteran of the 2016 Ryder Cup (where he finished with four points from his five matches), has since failed to fulfil the huge potential that was obvious when he claimed the 2012 NCAA Championship while playing at Illinois. A victory in the Portugal Masters towards the end of 2021 provided a much-needed fillip, however, before this, his sixth victory on what is now the DP World Tour.

“I was well in control,” said Pieters, who arrived in the Gulf ranked 69th in the world. “When you’re in control of your ball flight and the golf ball, it’s fun. You can be creative and that’s how I felt out there today. Winning a Rolex Series event is as good as it gets in Europe. Hopefully this lifts me. I want to play all of the big tournaments and hopefully this gets me close. I kind of disappeared for a couple years. Top 50 is your strive point, and when I fell out of that maybe three years ago, I took it badly. I’m happy to be there again.”

Back in the pack, where he started and eventually finished, Rory McIlroy did add some typical excitement to the proceedings with a bold run of figures through the 13th hole, highlighted by an eagle at the par-4 ninth where he holed out from 141 yards.

Rory McIlroy hole-out eagle!#ADGolfChamps | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/fvOLsbpJmY

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 23, 2022

At that stage he was tied for second place. But that was where he stalled on a Yas Links course for which he clearly feels little affection compared to the tournament’s previous home, Abu Dhabi Golf Club. Told this event will be played here for at least another three years his smiling response said it all: “see you in 2026.”

Anyway, a wild drive at the 359-yard 14th led to a momentum-ending bogey. And two more shots were dropped at the closing two holes, a wild 3-wood into the water at the par 5 pretty much summing up the last hour of the Northern Irishman’s life.

“Honestly, I’m happy enough I got to play an extra two days,” said McIlroy of a five-under-par total that saw him finish T-12. “I had to make a birdie at the last on Friday night to be here. Then I almost made the most of the weekend. I played well yesterday. And I played really well today before a couple of loose shots coming in cost me.

“I thought if I played the last five in two under and got to double digits I would have a decent chance,” he continued. “But I didn’t quite do that. I probably hit the wrong club on 14 trying to get close to the green with the pin at the back. And I just didn’t quite play the shots I needed to coming down the last few holes. Still, it was good to see where my game is at. It was good to get an extra couple of days golf going into Dubai next week. Obviously, that wasn’t the finish I wanted today, but big-picture-wise it was good to assess where everything is and know what to work on going into next week.”

The post Thomas Pieters kept his cool as others faltered in Abu Dhabi, and has the biggest win of his career to show for it appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Graeme McDowell and Victor Dubuisson will be reunited for the first time since their Ryder Cup heroics in 2014 with seemingly only one player close enough to upset their personal duel for the Saudi International on Sunday.

McDowell rode his luck with the putter to fire a four-under 66 on moving day at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club which played tough courtesy of blustery winds off the Red Sea and tightly tucked pins. The Northern Irishman, at -12, will take a one-stroke buffer over Dubussion into the final round after partnering the Frenchman to two foursomes points as Europe secured a third successive Ryder Cup win at Gleneagles.

Dubuisson signed for a bogey-free 65 while Malaysian Gavin Green, three adrift at -9 after a 70, looks the most likely to upset the McDowell-Dubuisson narrative. Defending champion Dustin Johnson, after starting the third round with four successive birdies before cooling off to an eventual 68, is one of three players at -7.

World No.1 Brooks Koepka (65) and Phil Mickelson (68) at -6 can’t be discounted either but six strokes back, the marquee Americans will have to go deep on Sunday and hope McDowell, Dubuisson and Green come back to them.

After dropping a shot on the 8th to cancel out a second hole birdie, McDowell’s putter came to the rescue. A 20-footer to save par on the 9th was followed by two fluky birdie putts from the fringe on 12 and 13, the former clattering pin, the latter an absolute monster on Royal Green’s toughest hole, before another gain on the 14th.

A wayward drive on 18 threatened to tarnish a terrific back nine but the 2010 U.S. Open champion recovered with a sumptuous approach to six-feet from 180-yards out for a closing birdie.

“My putt on nine was massive as I’d just bogeyed eight and the putter was cold,” McDowell said afterwards. “Those are the putts you look back on the round and say ‘that was the one’.

“The two putts from off the green on 12 and 13 are just massive bonuses at that point. You can’t expect to make those type of putts. Conditions were very tough today so I’m very pleased with that back nine.”

He’s at it again!@Graeme_McDowell #SaudiIntlGolf pic.twitter.com/56NFzIyfxZ

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) February 1, 2020

The last of McDowell’s 10 European Tour wins came at the Open de France in July 2014. He’s won twice on the PGA Tour in the intervening five and a half years including an event in the Dominican Republic last March. He’s converted 10 previous 54-hole leads into five wins.

Dubuisson owns a pair of Turkish Airlines Open titles (2013 and 2015) but has slid down the world rankings from a high of 15 to 478th, his lowest position since 2011.

A wrist injury that kept him sidelined for all but one event in 2018 is partly to blame and seems so too was the set of irons he’s been playing the past two years.

Dubuisson went bogey-free on Saturday. (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

“I had a long chat with my coach after Abu Dhabi because it was the first time he came to the whole tournament, so he saw me play the whole four days and he said, ‘It’s not possible, your swing is good. Last year your swing was very good, it’s not possible that you hit the ball like this’.

“So I decided to take my old set of clubs that I was using two years ago from TaylorMade and I found my game into the wind again, so I’m quite happy now.”

Green was unable to match the heights of his opening rounds of 64 and 67 but is just happy to be in the hunt for a maiden European Tour title after battling to a level-par 70 on Saturday.

“It was brutal out there and couple of pins, they were tucked so far in corners,” said Green. “All we did was play to the middle of the greens and just try and take our two-putt and make par. Because par is a good score today.”

The post Ryder Cup pals McDowell and Dubuisson set for Saudi showdown appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

2016 World Series.

Cubs vs Indians

And then the world will end with the score tied in game seven in extra innings #apocalypse

— RaysFanGio (@RaysFanGio) November 4, 2014

It actually happened (well, except the Apocalypse part), and that man became an Internet legend for all the right reasons. At the same time, it wouldn’t have mattered at all if he was wrong, since it was so specific and no reasonable person would expect it to be right. He created the perfect system of no accountability for himself—it was all upside. Still, you can’t just blindly throw darts, or you have no chance of being right. Every wild prediction has to be grounded in some truth.

With that in mind, here are 10 ridiculous predictions lined up for the 2020 PGA Tour season. If they’re right, I will claim to be blessed with the gift of sight. And if I’m wrong, you’ll never remember. Win-win!

1. Justin Thomas will take all four majors.

In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway writes an exchange in which one character asks another how he went bankrupt. “Gradually,” he said, “then suddenly.” That’s also how Justin Thomas is becoming the best player in the world. We always knew he was great: He got the major monkey off his back early, and he was even No. 1 for a couple weeks back in 2018. But he’s also been second fiddle to Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy for most of that time. Now, things are changing. At the Presidents Cup, he became the fastest American to 10 points in Cup competitions (tied with Snead and Wadkins), and with his win at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, he now has more victories than anyone younger than 30 on the PGA Tour, and became just the fourth player (after Tiger, Snead and Nicklaus) to have 12 wins before 30. Things have been gradual until now, but they’re starting to accelerate, and we’re entering the “suddenly” phase of his ascent. Thomas will take home all four majors this year.

2. The year’s most unforeseeable comeback will belong to Victor Dubuisson.

It seems like golf gets crazier and crazier with every passing day, with no end to the unpredictable drama, which means that we’re due for a stunning comeback. Who is the likeliest candidate, considering the chaotic state of things? That’s right, it’s Victor Dubuisson—desert match-play magician, undefeated European Ryder Cup hero and current No. 468 in the world. He’s doing no more than treading water on the European Tour at the moment, but I’ve got a feeling about this guy … we’ll be seeing him at Whistling Straits.

3. Sergio Garcia will do or say something controversial.

Another hot prediction tip: Say something vague enough that it almost has to come true, and refuse to elaborate. (Long pause) I refuse to elaborate.

4. Rory McIlroy will retire from golf.

Rory has always been the most enlightened of our great golfers, with a philosophical bent that isn’t shared by most of his colleagues, or by athletes in general. The fact that he’s managed over time to forge a strong work-life balance for himself while still playing at the elite levels of the sport is remarkable, but 2020 will be the year when he has an epiphany that life is short and subjecting himself to the mental and physical rigours of professional golf just isn’t worth it. He’s going to quit, everyone will think it’s temporary, and a few months later he’ll buy a Caribbean island and start a beach-side bar where he spends the next 50 years blowing the minds of locals and tourists by doling out bits of vague wisdom like “golf made me rich, but you can’t put a price on the tides.”

5. Ernie Els will disappear from public life as he plots the next Presidents Cup in a secret lair.

After the heartbreak of 2019, he’s now Moriarty to Tiger’s Sherlock Holmes.

Icon Sportswire

6. Golf media will grow by billions of dollars because of Patrick Reed.

I don’t know about you, but in the past month, I have clicked with an eagerness that borders on pathetic anytime I see a new link to a Patrick Reed story or video or Twitter thread or whatever. I have, in fact, produced plenty of my own content. There’s not enough time in the day to consume it all. A big question looming over golf media has been how we’ll all react when the Tiger bubble bursts, and his comeback granted us a temporary reprieve. But now I think we have an answer: Reed is our Donald Trump. He’s the content gift that keeps on giving. Golf Channel 2 is coming, and we have Reed to thank.

7. There will be a fistfight, between golfers, at the WGC-Dell Match Play.

We’re in the age of the golf feud, and tensions between players have only escalated with the cauldron of social media. It’s only a matter of time before things boil over, and I’ve got Austin marked in my calendar as the place where it all goes down.

8. The Ryder Cup will be cancelled due to “fan behaviour.”

Speaking of violence … you’re holding a major sporting event with nationalistic undertones a month before the most tense election of our lifetimes in one of the closest swing states? With alcohol? With history of boorish fandom? That, my friends, is a powder keg. This Ryder Cup ain’t happening … or at least it ain’t finishing.

Kohjiro Kinno

9. There will be something called “PaintGate” where we learn that most golf courses on the tour are spray painting their fairways.

I might start this myself when things get boring in February. It will be Golf QAnon.

10. Brooks Koepka was secretly rattled by his PGA Championship win and will never be the same.

Brooks Koepka is a known killer and has the best mentality of any pro golfer at the majors. His “half the people aren’t good enough, half of the rest will have an off week, and half of the rest will choke, so it’s basically me against 10 guys” schtick is brilliant. OR IS IT? At the end of the PGA Championship, Koepka faltered mightily, nearly giving it away to DJ, and my contention is that he’s secretly been rattled and will never be the same. Am I saying this mostly because I know he loves bulletin-board material and I have a hidden agenda to motivate him? Yes. Does this prediction go against my own rules, in the sense that it could blow up on me? Also yes. Is the entire thing undermined by the fact that he finished top five in his two majors after the PGA, and played fine on Sunday? Yup. But what would a list of outlandish predictions be if it didn’t violate its own rules? I’m sticking to it.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

The post 10 wild, outlandish predictions for professional golf in 2020 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 38-year-old English fashion model and television personality will be joined by cricketers Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting, former Springboks rugby legend Victor Matfield, Boyzlife pop stars Keith Duffy and Brian McFadden and Emirati comedian Ali Al Sayed at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club on February 6.

Nine-time major champion Player will again host the charity Pro-Am which aims to raise funds for the Zayed Higher Organisation for Humanitarian Care & Special Needs.

Former Open champion and European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke joins Chris Wood, Joost Luiten, Victor Dubuisson, Jason Scrivener, David Howell and South Africans Thomas Aiken and Trevor Immelman as confirmed European Tour starters.

Scotland-based U.S. Ladies European Tour pro Beth Allen, who won last year’s inaugural Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open at Saadiyat Beach GC headlines a strong female lineup including course record holder Georgia Hall, Caroline Martens, Emma Cabrera-Bello and Victoria Lovelady.

The United Arab Emirates’ ‘Year of Giving’ is set to get a significant boost with the announcement of the star-studded line-up.

Darren Clarke in action during the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship – Photographs by Getty Images

Held in conjunction with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, under the Patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the 2017 Gary Player Invitational joins five other global events in a series that together has helped The Player Foundation raise more than $62 million for charities worldwide. Widely recognised as the world’s leading charity golf series, The Player Foundation is working towards its goal of raising $100 million by 2025.

“Abu Dhabi’s hosting of the second annual Gary Player Invitational highlights not only Abu Dhabi’s strong position as a world-class sporting destination, but also the spirit of generosity that the UAE is known for,” said His Excellency Aref Al Awani, General Secretary of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council.

“Bringing professional golfers, sporting legends and celebrities together with golfing legend Gary Player, and members of the business community, the Pro-Am event complements Abu Dhabi’s robust calendar of world-class events, as it also supports our growing sporting culture and importantly, the vital work of the Zayed Higher Organisation for Humanitarian Care & Special Needs.”

Player, the course designer at Saadiyat Beach GC, will host a pre Pro-Am skills clinic from 11am on February 6. The clinic and Pro-Am are open to the public.

“Saadiyat Beach Golf Club is one of the most engaging courses in the world and the ideal location to host the mix of professional golfers, sporting greats and special guests during this year’s event in Abu Dhabi.

“It is especially significant to host this event during the UAE’s Year of Giving and thanks to the support of the Abu Dhabi Sport Council, facility owner, TDIC and the wider UAE community, we are able to build upon the work of the inaugural event in 2016 and move even closer to reaching our goal of raising $100 million for children by 2025. I know that all participants will have great fun in support of an even greater cause.”

A gala dinner at the five-star Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi on February 5 will kick-start the Invitational while players can also look forward to a traditional South African Braai (BBQ) after play.

www.garyplayerinvitational.com

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Victor Dubuisson takes a one shot into the final round of the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates on Sunday.

To set the scene for what shapes as a fitting finale to the European Tour season with 16 players within six shots of the 27-year-old Frenchman, here’s a recap of all the best quotes following at extraordinary Saturday on Earth.

THEY SAID IT…

“Obviously I knew I needed a low one obviously to catch up with the leaders. I mean, I didn’t expect it this low. I have posted really low rounds here, as well, so I know how to do it. I just played great today, and the putts dropped in. So that was really the difference.” – Rafa Cabrera-Bello (pictured) on the Saturday 63 that has him a shot back of Victor Dubuisson going into Sunday’s final round.

“It’s been a very good year, as you said, for me. I pretty much accomplished every single goal, many of my childhood dreams, as well. So just trying to get the third win, and really happy to have put myself in a position hopefully to do so tomorrow. So hopefully yes.” Cabrera-Bello again on whether he is saving his best golf of a memorable season till last.

“It was a long one. It was going down the green into the next tee I think if it missed the hole. Fortunately smashed the hole and went right in the middle. Yeah, I was glad for obvious reasons that it went in,” Matthew Fitzpatrick on his 78ft eagle putt on the par 5 7^th which briefly gave the Englishman the lead Saturday.  “it’s just been a great day and hopefully another one of them tomorrow. Hopefully it will be enough but we’ll see.”

”I think I just need to do the same thing. Maybe avoid a little mistake here and there, but if I keep playing the way I’ve been playing the last three rounds, and it kind of falls into place, I think most people are aware of what I’m capable of.” – Nicolas Colsaerts who is just a shot back after two eagles, six birdies and four bogeys in his 66 Saturday.

“I was raging that I missed that birdie putt, and I walked off the green, thinking that is my first par. But it was just one of those starts I guess. Just happy to shoot a good score in the end,” Tyrrell Hatton after missing a birdie putt on the 8^th for his first par in a third round of 67 which also sees him a shot off the pace.

 “I feel really comfortable on this golf course and hopefully I get off to a slightly better start or more consistent start tomorrow, but throw in a few birdies. We’ll see…I’m in a good position going into the final round,” Hatton again.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNBJ8HejgAp/?taken-by=europeantour&hl=en

“Well, I’m 11-under par, 13 is leading, so I’ve got a good chance. That’s what we were talking about after the first day, 66. Yeah, it’s a good position to be in. Really looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully getting off to as fast as a start as I did today,” Lee Westwood starts Sunday two shots back after a 69 Saturday.

“Yeah, I’m still very confident. I played well today. I think 2-under is not a very truthful score of the way I played. Hopefully I’m keeping some of the birdies for tomorrow.” – Italian Francesco Molinari also two back of leader Dubuisson.

“Yeah, I’ve just got to go out and try to play a solid round tomorrow. I know if Alex finishes second on his own, I’ve got to be inside the top eight, so that’s kind of the scenario that I’m trying to achieve.” – Order of Merit pole-sitter Henrik Stenson on his game plan for Sunday as he eyes closest challenger Alex Noren…and a $1.25m bonus for winning the Harry Vardon Trophy.

“Much tougher than this. I wasn’t quite expecting some of the questions that came up, but it was all in good fun. Yeah, I definitely had to put my thinking hat on a couple of times and try to wiggle out of a couple of them as best I could (laughing). “ – Rory McIlroy when asked, after his third round 68, how he found his pre-tournament interview with nine-year-old European Tour ‘presenter’ Billy, a video that has since gone viral.

“It’s just a course I like. It’s long. You have to carry the ball long. It’s target golf. Long game is very important, putting. I just like the way it sets up.” – overnight leader Victor Dubuisson has the last word after his 64 Saturday sees him take a one shot lead into Sunday.

Let the final round fun begin. –  Kent Gray

The post Last night today: What they said on the eve of the Race to Dubai’s final round appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Victor Dubuisson was an unexpected but thoroughly fitting name atop the leaderboard after a moving day unlike any other witnessed on Earth in the eight year history of the DP World Tour Championship.

The enigmatic but brilliantly talented Frenchman, conspicuous by his absence from the first page of leaderboards pretty much all year, will take a one stroke lead into the final round of the final tournament of the European Tour season after carding a majestic eight under par 64.

What Dubuisson won’t take into Sunday is Saturday’s lowest score. That belonged to Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello who put a fist-pumping exclamation mark on a nine-under 63 to rocket 18 places up the leaderboard and firmly into contention.

Dubuisson is 13 under par (203), a shot clear of Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and the young English duo of Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton. Cabrera Bello is just a shot further back in a three way share of fifth alongside Lee Westwood and Francesco Molinari at 11 under (205).

Of all the names above, only Hatton didn’t see the summit of the leaderboard on a topsy-turvy Saturday which produced 15 eagles, five different leaders and one final, mouth-watering day to look forward to Sunday.

Indeed, given the utterly absorbing unpredictability of round three, don’t be surprised if Hatton is crowned champion. Equally, don’t be surprised if a name outside the top-10 pops up – it’s been that sort of week.

Until his T3 finish at the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player in Sun City last week, Dubuisson’s season wasn’t anything to shout about, the 6ft Frenchman banking 712,817 euro in 18 starts.

In fact, his only other result better than 38^th was at T4 in the very first tournament of the season last December, by quirk of the 2015-2016 wrap-around schedule also the Nedbank Challenge (but not hosted by nine-time major champion Player) at Sun City in South Africa.

But Dubuisson has got progressively better on Earth with rounds of 70-69-64, the latter including seven birdies and an eagle two at the 5th when he sucked a wedge softly back into the hole.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BM_NavbjTYU/?taken-by=europeantour&hl=en

“It’s a great score. It’s my best score to date,” Dubuisson said afterwards.

“I’ve played well, made good putts at the right time. I’m happy to be able to putt it in the hole. It’s just a course I like… it’s long. You have to carry the ball long.”

Colsaerts clearly concurs, the Belgian boomer recovering from a bogey start Saturday with eagles at the 7^th and 18^th and six birdies in his 66. Rikard Karlberg matched his two eagles, the Swede storming home birdie-eagle-birdie-par-eagle for a 67 to be seven under.

Fitzpatrick matched Colsaerts’ six under Saturday, briefly taking the lead with an eagle at seven courtesy of a 78ft putt.

Hatton’s started his round of 67 bogey-eagle-bogey-birdie-birdie-birdie-bogey before the rarity of a par on the eighth. There were three more birdies as he came home in 33 strokes but it wasn’t half as impressive as Cabrera Bello who covered the homeward nine in three fewer strokes. The disappointment was a bogey at the 9^th which cost him a share of the Earth course record of 62 set by Justin Rose in 2012.

Molinari started the third round in a share of the lead with Sergio Garcia. It lasted exactly one hole as both bogeyed just after Westwood had birdied to make up the shot the Englishman had thrown away on the 18^th hole the previous evening.

But while Garcia went backwards on moving day with a 74 to slip six off Dubuisson’s sizzling pace, Molinari dug deep after another bogey at the 4th to card a two under 70 and keep himself in the hunt.

Westwood, too, deserves credit for his 69. The 2009 DP World Tour Championship winner extended his lead to three when he chipped in for eagle on the 2^nd, only to bogey the 4^th, 5^th and 14^th before three birdies in his final four holes.

The bogey at five was particularly galling as Westwood tugged a downhill two footer and watched as it rimmed further away that he had started. He then pushed the return putt to turn a birdie into a bogey and will need more from his often uncooperative flat stick Sunday if he is to repeat at JGE.– Kent Gray

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