DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Tommy Fleetwood benefited from two big errors on Rory McIlroy's back nine and produced a strong finish of his own to win the Dubai Invitational after a back-and-forth duel in the final round on Sunday.
McIlroy had already three-putted from 2 feet on No. 14 when he came to the 18th tee with a 1-stroke lead over Fleetwood and hit his drive into the water.
Fleetwood followed that by driving into the middle of the fairway and sent his approach to 16 feet, well inside McIlroy after the world No. 2 had to drop.
McIlroy missed his winding uphill putt, and Fleetwood made his to shoot 67 for a total of 19-under 265, securing his first victory since the Nedbank Golf Challenge in November 2022.
He was one stroke ahead of McIlroy (67), who tied for second with Thriston Lawrence (64) in the first event of the 2024 European tour.
“In the first week, I think you'll expect some of those sloppy mistakes,” McIlroy said. “Unfortunately for me, those mistakes came at the wrong time today.”
McIlroy smiled and gave Fleetwood a big hug on the 18th green after missing out on a first win since the Scottish Open in July. They are close friends and played together in the Ryder Cup last year.
“It's always very special when you play with one of your friends, one of the best players in the world, challenging yourself against those guys,” said the 15th-ranked Fleetwood. “Rory has been a very, very supportive influence on me in the past… I've seen him do incredible things down the stretch in golf tournaments, and today it was my turn.”
McIlroy, the world No. 2, started the day one shot behind Fleetwood and was 3 behind after the 10th hole. But four birdies in a five-hole stretch, either side of that unfathomable three-putt on the par-3 hole 14, they tied it with Fleetwood.
After a sloppy bogey on the 16th hole, Fleetwood holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to stay within 1 shot of McIlroy and then took advantage of his playing partner's worst swing of the day on the 18th hole.
“I've had many occasions where someone has finished well against me when I haven't done enough, and today it was my turn to walk through the door,” said Fleetwood, who lives in Dubai. “It was just one of those things. You learn every time you play, good, bad, whatever it is, you always have to learn every time you play. The more you put yourself in these positions, you keep figuring out who you want to play.” “Know as a player when you're out there, what attitude you want to have, how you want to play, and just work towards that, and today was a good day for me.”
