Fitzpatrick takes Dubai trophy
DUBAI: Matthew Fitzpatrick birdied the last hole to win the US$8 million DP World Tour Championship on Sunday as Henrik Stenson won the Race to Dubai for a second time.
England’s Fitzpatrick was completing a remarkable season in which he represented Europe in the Ryder Cup within two years of turning professional, and backed it up by winning the season-ending championship.
The 22-year-old closed with a 67 for a 17-under par total at the Earth course of Jumeirah Golf Estates.
That was one better than compatriot Tyrrell Hatton who made a bogey on the last hole after hitting his tee shot into the water.
Stenson won the Race to Dubai, the Swede shooting a seven-under par 65 on the final day to finish on a 12-under par total.
He finished tied with Rory McIlroy, who needed to win the tournament to deny Stenson, but two of his closest rivals — Masters champion Danny Willett of England and four-time European Tour winner this year Alex Noren of Sweden — ranked second and third in the Race to Dubai at the start of the week, finished behind him.
Willett was tied 50 at one-under par, while Noren could do no better than tied 23rd at eight-under par.
Stenson finished on 4,148,402 points, with Willett second on 3,734,527. Noren was third, Hatton fourth and McIlroy fifth.
THONGCHAI, KIRADECH STRUGGLE
Thai ace Thongchai Jaidee finished 14th on the 2016 European Tour after a joint 40th place in the DP World Tour Championship.
He got €46,054 from the Dubai tournament pushing his season earnings to €1.35 million. Kiradech Aphibarnrat was 52nd in the Race to Dubai with €715,610.
LEADING FINAL ROUND SCORES
(par-72)
271 — Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) 69-69-66-67
272 — Tyrrell Hatton (ENG) 71-66-67-68
274 — Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 70-67-70-67
275 — Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 70-69-68-68, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 70-67-70-68, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 68-67-70-70, Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL) 67-71-6671, Victor Dubuisson (FRA) 70-69-64-72, Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP) 71-71-63-75
276 — Jorge Campillo (ESP) 72-71-68-65, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 72-69-70-65, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 75-6868-65, Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 70-71-67-68
Selected scores
283 — Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 69-74-73-67 284 — Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 74-70-70-70