Feb 6, 2017: Sergio Garcia claimed his 12th European Tour title as he completed an utterly dominant wire-to-wire win at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Anirban Lahiri finished at T19 to join the club of Top 20, and amateur Rayhan Thomas closed at T60.
The Spaniard set the tone with an opening 65 at Emirates Golf Club on Thursday and never looked back, finishing with a bogey-free 69 to get to 19 under and beat Open champion Henrik Stenson by three shots.
Garcia entered the final round with a three-shot lead and while back-to-back birdies from Stenson on the 13th and 14th applied some pressure, the 37 year old produced a stunning tee-shot on the 15th and a brilliant up-and-down on the next to ease to victory.
Anirban Lahiri showed great determination in the final round to card his lowest score of four-under-68 in this tournament to finish at T19.
Anirban suffered to close birdie less front nine, but managed to close with only bogey in the 5th hole. But he had a good start to his back nine also with a very good ending. .
Lahiri shot 3 birdies – at the 10th, 13th and 14th holes – before adding an eagle to his last and 18th hole to end with a total of six-under-282 to place himself in top 20 club.
Dubai-based Indian amateur Rayhan Thomas added two over 74 to his final round to close with a total of three-over-291 and tied at T60.
Englishman Tyrrell Hatton and Dane Lasse Jensen were then at 14 under, two shots clear of Matthew Fitzpatrick and Peter Uihlein.
Garcia celebrated his 250th European Tour appearance in some style, claiming his first win since the 2014 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and potentially moving back into the top ten of the Official World Golf Ranking.
The victory continued Spain’s fine record in the Dubai Desert Classic as Garcia became the sixth Spanish winner following the great Seve Ballesteros, José María Olazábal, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Alvaro Quiros and Rafa Cabrera Bello.
“I’m very happy to play the way I played, ” he said. “The way I handled some of the key moments and to beat Henrik, we all now how great a player he is.
“It’s a great start to the year so we’re going to try to keep going the same way.”
European Tour Release
