Donaldson fends off Rose in Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Jamie Donaldson won the Abu Dhabi Championship by one shot Sunday for the biggest victory of his career, with Justin Rose narrowly missing a birdie putt on the 18th, which would have forced a playoff.
Rose’s eight-foot putt rimmed out of the hole, giving the Welshman his second European Tour victory after a final round 68 for an overall 14-under 274.
Rose (71) threw his club up in the air in frustration while Donaldson flashed a relieved smile. Rose shared second with Thorbjorn Olesen (69) of Denmark, who also failed to force a playoff on the 18th when his 15-foot birdie putt rolled past the hole. Olesen, playing with Rose, had putted first.
“Awesome,” Donaldson said, sitting next to the tournament trophy.
“It was a tough field, brutal golf course … to sit here is quite surreal.”
It was fifth-ranked Rose’s tournament to lose. The Englishman had a two-shot lead over Donaldson and Olesen and led all week, hitting greens and making timely putts. But he was shaky from the start Sunday, scrambling early to save pars and then hitting errant drives on Nos. 5, 11 and 16 that led to bogeys, while finding it difficult to read the greens.
“It was definitely hard work today,” Rose said. “You want to close out with a chance to win when you have it and (I) didn’t do that today. But I didn’t do a lot wrong either.”
Rose’s struggles opened the door for Donaldson as well as several other players, including Olesen and David Howell of England.
Howell struck first. Trailing by four shots coming into Sunday, he ran off five birdies, including one on the 10th when his approach shot spun back toward the hole. He sank it for a one-shot lead over Rose and Donaldson but missed three putts within five feet to triple bogey No. 13. He never recovered.
“I felt good out there and the most annoying thing was I thought I hit a beautiful shot to the 13th. It just came up four or five yards short of where I thought it was going to go and it all went wrong from there,” Howell said.
Olesen also made an early run with a string of birdies to draw level with Rose, only to fall back when he hit a drive on the sixth into deep rough and had to take a drop when his second ended up in bush. He settled for a double bogey, only to put himself back into contention with three birdies on the back nine, including a clutch birdie putt on No. 17.