Garcia goes wire-to-wire for Desert Classic win

Sergio Garcia shot a finalround 3-under-par 69 to win the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday after holding the tournament lead since the opening round.

The Spaniard, who had never posted a top-10 finish in his previous seven Desert Classic appearances, finished at 19-underpar 269, three strokes ahead of Henrik Stenson (69).

Tiger Woods withdrew from the tournament Friday with back spasms after shooting an open- ing-round 77 a day earlier.

It was Garcia’s first European Tour win since the 2014 Qatar Masters. In the interim, he also won the Byron Nelson Classic on the PGA Tour last year.

With his 12th European Tour victory, Garcia became the sixth wire-to-wire winner of the Desert Classic and the sixth Spaniard to lift the Dallah trophy.

Garcia, 37, started the day with a birdie and increased his lead to four shots, a cushion that seemed necessary given how tough the front nine of the golf course was playing due to crosswinds. He held his nerve throughout before making a critical par save on the eighth hole after hitting his tee shot into the right desert, and he then made another birdie on the tough par-4 ninth to ensure he stayed four ahead of Stenson.

“I’ve been fortunate to have some really good ball-striking tournaments,” said Garcia, who led the greens in regulation stats for the week and was second in driving accuracy. “This definitely was one of them. I felt like my iron play was really, really good. Obviously my driver was very good, a couple of shots here and there. But you know, on a course of 72 holes, it’s going to happen.”