TOMMY WINS .. BY A ROSE
GOLF RACE TO DUBAI IS OVER Late meltdown is Justin time to hand Fleetwood the title On-form MVG’s hat-trick
SPAIN’S Jon Rahm won the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai as a late collapse by Justin Rose saw Tommy Fleetwood crowned European No.1 for the first time.
Rose looked set for a third win in succession to seal a second Race to Dubai title when he led by a shot with seven holes to play only to bogey three of the next five.
That left the Olympic champion needing to eagle the last to overhaul his fellow Englishman but his long-range attempt slid past.
Fleetwood said: “It’s kind of amazing. It’s not kind of sunk in yet. It was great being out there today trying to win it. It really was out of my control over the last few holes.
“It was difficult watching TV, not being able to do anything. I felt for Justin. I think how gracious he was shows a lot about his character. It’s the biggest day of my career.”
Fleetwood was struggling so badly with his game 18 months ago he wanted to pull out of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth fearing he could not get the ball off the first tee.
But the 26-year-old has reaped the rewards of returning to coach Alan Thompson and employing his friend Ian Finnis as his caddie.
Fleetwood, who finished 58,821 points ahead of Rose, added: “Wentworth has been a benchmark to see where I’ve been and where I’ve come from as that was my lowest moment.”
Rose began the final round with a one-shot lead and kept that thanks to a front nine of 32 but failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker on the 12th and found water with his approach to the 14th.
That dropped the 37-year-old into a three-way tie for fifth and back below Fleetwood in the Race to Dubai with another bogey on the 16th ultimately leaving him too much to do.
Rose said: “I felt like I was in complete control until the 12th hole then I kind of hit the buffers. I don’t know where it went wrong on the back nine.”
He had to settle for a tie for fourth on 17 under par, two shots behind European Tour rookie of the year Rahm, 23, who secured his second victory of the season thanks to a closing 67.
The Spaniard finished a shot ahead of Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Ireland’s Shane Lowry whose 63 equalled the lowest round of the week. Fleetwood tied for 21st after a final round of 74. (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72) 269 – J Rahm (Spa) 69 68 65 67. 270 – K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 67 67 67, S Lowry 69 70 68 63. 271 – D Burmester (Rsa) 70 68 65 68, J Rose 66 70 65 70, S Garcia (Spa) 70 69 67 65, D Frittelli (Rsa) 71 68 63 69. 272 – J Suri (USA) 68 68 68 68, T Hatton 72 63 69 68. 273 – P Uihlein (USA) 71 68 65 69, P Reed (USA) 65 72 68 68. 274 – M Fitzpatrick 67 67 72 68. 275 – H Li (Chn) 72 69 67. 67, V Dubuisson (Fra) 75 67 68 65, M LorenzoVera (Fra) 70 72 65 68, M Pavon (Fra) 71 70 67 67. 276 – F Molinari (Ita) 69 71 68 68, R Fisher 71 68 68 69, A Bjork (Swe) 67 71 67 71, M Kaymer (Ger) 68 72 67 69. 277 – T Fleetwood 73 65 65 74, H Porteous (Rsa) 70 70 69 68, R Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 73 69 66 69. 278 – D Lipsky (USA) 70 72 64 72. 279 – P Dunne 67 70 67 75, C Shinkwin 72
69 66 72, J Smith 75 67 71 66. 280 – C Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 72 67 71, J Wang (Kor) 71 70 70 69, R Fox (Nzl) 67 71 73 69. 281 – P Waring 70 74 70 67, I Poulter 70 69
70 72, B Grace (Rsa) 72 71 68 70, F Zanotti (Par) 67 75 70 69, R Sterne (Rsa) 71 71 66 73. 282 – S Kjeldsen (Den) 68 69 70 75,
72 72 68 70, A Levy (Fra) 67 76 70 69, T Olesen (Den) 74 68 69 71, D Horsey 68 76 68 70, A Dodt (Aus) 70 77 69 66. 283 – 73 72 69 69,
A Otaegui (Spa) 71 69 70 73. 284 – J Luiten (Ned) 73 70 71 70. 285 – A Noren (Swe) 74 69 70 72, B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 76 71 67,
76 71 66 72. 286 – S Hend (Aus) 66 71 71 78, A Sullivan 68 76 69 73, 72 76 68 70, E Pepperell 75 70 66 75. MICHAEL VAN GERWEN retained the bwin Grand Slam of Darts title last night and extended his winning streak in Wolverhampton to three years with a 16-12 success over Peter Wright.
The Dutchman was in dominant form in his semi-final with Phil Taylor as he ended the six-time Grand Slam champion’s bid for a farewell triumph at the Wolves Civic with a 16-8 win.
He then denied Wright a third TV title of the year as he scooped the £112,500 winner’s cheque.
The Scot shared the opening 20 legs with van Gerwen but was powerless to stop the Dutchman.
Van Gerwen, who averaged over 102 in the final, said: “To win a tournament like this is always nice, especially in a game like that.
“After 10-10 I had a little turbo but maybe we were trying too hard and we didn’t want to lose to each other.”
Wright led 10-9 at one point but van Gerwen crucially checked out 146 and 100 in a run of four successive legs to finally assert his dominance.
Wright hit back to claim two of the next three but tops moved van Gerwen 15-12 up before he sealed the title with double 16.
The Scot, who had made a brilliant comeback from 14-8 down to win his semi-final against Gary Anderson 16-15, said: “I’m gutted but the best player won on the day.”
LEADING SCORES