Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Winner: Shane Lowry

Back on the European Tour after losing his card on the PGA Tour, Shane Lowry started his year by equaling Henrik Stenson’s Abu Dhabi course record of 62. Lowry went on to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship wire-to-wire but only thanks to a birdie on the 72nd hole. Scores of 70 and 67 put the 31-year-old Irishman three ahead of Richard Sterne entering the final round, but his lead had disappeared after three holes. By the turn he was three behind and two holes later he trailed by four.

Sterne birdied four of the first five holes and went out in 31 while Lowry was out in 37. Lowry then bogeyed the 11th before birdieing the next two holes. Sterne had run out of birdies and three-putted the 14th and also bogeyed the 16th to leave the pair tied with two to play. A exquisite up-and-down by Lowry at the 17th kept the pair level before he found the green at the last in two and two-putted for a four. Sterne missed the green on the right and failed to get up and down.

“It was an emotional roller coaster today. I went out with the lead by a few and before I knew it I was four behind. I was brave out there, I ground it out well and I’m over the moon,” said Lowry after his fourth European Tour victory and his first since 2015.

Lowry closed with a 71 for an 18-under-par total of 270, with Sterne adding his second 69 of the weekend. Joost Luiten, with two eagles, scored a 65 to take third place, three behind the winner. Brooks Koepka finished in the top 10, Dustin Johnson was 16th, but there was no third win in a row
for Tommy Fleetwood, who was 42nd. Newly part of the Rolex Series, the purse increased to $7 million, though this was the second weakest field for the event since 2008.