Fleetwood retains Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship title
Sublime Garcia cruises to season-opening win in Singapore
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Jan 21, (Agencies): Tommy Fleetwood successfully defended his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship title on Sunday after a sensational back nine to clinch the win.
The 27-year-old Englishman, who celebrated his birthday on Friday, started the final round two shots behind overnight leaders Ross Fisher and Thomas Pieters, and an indifferent front nine saw him make the turn five shots behind Fisher as gusty winds hit the National course of Abu Dhabi Golf Club
But Fleetwood birdied the 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 18th holes for a seven-under par 65 round to finish on 22-under 267.
Fisher, 37, got off to a fast start when he made an eagle from 45 feet on the par-5 second hole and added two more birdies in his front nine. A bogey on the par-5 10th, which could have easily turned into a double if not for a 25-feet bogey putt, stalled his progress.
Playing two groups ahead of him, Fleetwood had birdied the 10th and 12th holes, but he saved his best golf for the next four holes. On the 13th, he was stymied behind a tree but hit his second shot from the desert to six feet.
The top-ranked European then rolled in a 25feet putt on the par-3 15th to join Fisher at 20-under, before moving ahead with a 50-feet birdie putt on the 16th hole. He then picked up another shot on the 18th, which proved to be a luxury cushion when Fisher failed to make birdies on the 17th and 18th.
Fleetwood added that the tough conditions made it easier for him to focus.
A disappointed Fisher, who was runnerup twice late in 2017 and is winless since the Tshwane Open in March 2014, praised Fleetwood’s performance.
McIlroy finished inside the top-five once again — his eighth top-five in nine Abu Dhabi starts — but he was happy with the result this time.
In Singapore, Sergio Garcia produced a masterful display of bogey-free golf over 27 holes on Sunday to open his season with a five-shot victory at the weather-disrupted Singapore Open, the Spaniard making his move early and dominating from the front.
The 38-year-old US Masters champion signed for a final-round three-under 68 in glorious sunshine to finish on 14-under 270, well clear of Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira and South Africa’s Shaun Norris, who tied for second on nine-under-par.
Garcia had returned to the course at dawn to complete his third round after weather delays had forced an early finish on Saturday and the Spaniard hit the ground running, wiping out a two-shot deficit with four birdies in his last nine holes.
After reeling in overnight leaders Chapchai Nirat and Danthai Boonma and starting the last round with a one-shot lead, Garcia put on an ironplay masterclass as he surged clear of the field on the hazardous front nine at the par-71 Serapong Course.
A birdie on the first hole of his final round doubled his lead and after a sumptuous approach and monster putt secured back-to-back birdies on seven and eight, Garcia was five shots clear as his nearest rivals wilted under a melting midday sun.
The world number 10 then settled into safety mode, aiming for the centre of the greens rather than attacking the pins, as he parred his last 10 holes on the rapidly drying Sentosa Golf Club layout to ensure no one could capitalise on any errors.The co-sanctioned Asian and Japan Tour victory is the 32nd of Garcia’s professional career and sets him up nicely for the defence of his Dubai Desert Classic title on the European Tour next week.
Thailand’s Danthai and compatriot Jazz Janewattananond tied for fourth place on eight-under to earn two of the four British Open slots on offer for players who had yet to qualify for the oldest major on the calendar.
They will be joined at Carnoustie in July by young American Sean Crocker (seven-under), whose Zimbabwean father Gary played in that country’s first ever cricket test match in 1992, and Australia’s Lucas Herbert (six-under).
In Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, Jerry Kelly bounced back from an inexplicable miss off the tee to stun Colin Montgomerie in the season opener on the PGA Tour Champions.
Kelly made an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole, Montgomerie missed a 6-footer for par and Kelly turned a one-shot deficit into a victory Saturday in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship.
Kelly was tied with Montgomerie when he drove it well right into lava rocks on the wide par4 16th. He hit a provisional but ended up taking an unplayable lie after he found his ball amid the rocks and made bogey.
On 18, it was Montgomerie who made a mistake off the tee, finding a fairway bunker. His approach went over the green and after Kelly converted his birdie, the 54-year-old Scot jammed his par putt well past the hole.
It was the third win on the over-50 tour for the 51-year-old Kelly, who finished tied for 14th last week at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open at Waialae. That gave him confidence as he hopped over to the Big Island for his tournament debut at Hualalai. The limited-field event includes winners from last season, past champions of the event, major champions and Hall of Famers.
Kelly won in Honolulu in 2002, one of his three PGA Tour victories.
Kelly began the day two shots off the lead and pulled even when Montgomerie made double bogey on the par-3 fifth. Kelly moved in front with a 25-footer for birdie on 13, but Montgomerie responded with two straight birdies, setting up the drama on the closing holes.
Kelly closed with a 6-under 66 for a three-day total of 18-under 198. Montgomerie shot 69. David Toms shot 67 and finished two shots back, and Miguel Angel Jimenez was another stroke behind after a 66. Bernhard Langer, defending the first of his seven 2017 titles, closed with a 70 to finish at 10 under.