Three putts from 2ft and a tee shot hooked into water at the last, no wonder it was a rueful Rory McIlroy who stepped from the 18th green at Dubai Creek, his hopes of victory in his first start of 2024 undone by costly errors. To Tommy Fleetwood, the spoils at the inaugural Dubai Invitational.
A final round duel between Fleetwood and McIlroy, Ryder Cup teammates, was never likely to disappoint. Fleetwood had taken the early initiative before McIlroy reeled off three birdies in a row from the 11th. On the par-three 14th, an iron played to tap in range provided McIlroy a wonderful opportunity to forge ahead. Instead, he three-putted to audible gasps from the galleries. “I pushed the first putt then I was guarding against that push with the one coming back and hit it left,” he later explained. “It was a bad sequence of events.”
The Northern Irishman responded true to style with birdies at the 15th and 17th. The failure to find dry land at the 18th, though, put this tournament back into Fleetwood’s hands. The Englishman converted from 16ft for a 67, 19 under par total and one stroke win over McIlroy and Thriston Lawrence. A strange McIlroy week saw him reach 18 under despite a quadruple bogey during round two.
“I made some silly mistakes, which is to be expected in my first tournament back out after a while,” said McIlroy, who last played competitively in November. “If I can clean that up, I feel like the rest of the game is right there.” McIlroy has an immediate chance to atone; he defends the Dubai Desert Classic from Thursday.
For Fleetwood, this was a first victory since late 2022. He has cause to derive extra satisfaction from the manner of it. “It’s always very special when you play with one of your friends, one of the best players in the world,” the 32-year-old said. “Challenging yourself against those guys ... Rory has been a very, very supportive influence on me since we’ve been close. I’ve watched him do amazing things down the stretch in golf tournaments and today was my turn.
“Being out there with him, somebody you’re comfortable with and somebody that you can really strive to achieve half of what he’s done in his career is great. That’s what we want to do as players, play against the best players in the world and see how your game holds up.” So far, so good.
