Thomas Pieters held his nerve impressively to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship by a shot and get his 2022 season off to the perfect start.
A par on the final hole saw the 29-year-old post a level-par 72, his score of ten under enough for him to get the better of Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Shubhankar Sharma who finished in a tie for second a shot behind.
It was Pieters’ sixth DP World Tour win and the biggest of his career so far, coming in composed fashion with a final-round that had 16 pars.
“I was well in control of my ball all day,” Pieters said.
“Early on I was pretty confident, but it got close in the end. I chickened out on the last - I was going to go for it but [his caddie] told me I was two ahead so I decided to lay-up.
“When you’re controlling your golf ball, it’s fun. You can be creative and that’s how I felt out there.”
Scott Jamieson started the final round with a one-shot lead, but four bogies in his opening five holes saw him drop down the leaderboard. It was a similarly disastrous start for Shane Lowry, who opened with a triple-bogey seven and a double bogey on the par-five seventh ended any hopes he had of getting back in contention. The pair both shot final-round 77s.
Viktor Hovland also had a seven on the scorecard, but an eagle got him back in the group that were three shots back as Pieters made the turn at -11.
One of those putting pressure on the leader was Rory McIlroy, who started the day nine shots back of the lead having only made the cut on the number on Friday.
He quickly cut into that deficit though and helped by a hole-out eagle on the ninth, he was six under for his first 13 holes and suddenly found himself in a tie for second.
But as he pushed to post a score that would trouble the leaders, he made three bogies in his final five holes to finish five under for the tournament and back in T12th.
A three-putt from eight feet on the 11th for Pieters was his first slip-up of the day and really tested his demeanour, particularly when Cabrera-Bello pulled level with birdie on the 14th and Sharma found himself just one shot behind the pair.
The Spaniard Cabrera-Bello made two consecutive bogies though and Sharma slipped-up on the 17th, leaving Pieters with a two shot lead as he made the walk to the par-five 18th.
That was cut to one as Cabrera-Bello and Sharma birdied up ahead to finish on nine under, but a controlled display on the final hole gave Pieters two putts for the win and a tap-in from a few inches sealed victory.
