Stenson Successfully Defends Dubai Title


Henrik Stenson closed with a 2-under 70 to win the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai for the second straight year. The season-ender on the European Tour took place at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

The 38-year-old Swede carded five birdies, a bogey and a double on the par-4 11th to finish at 16-under 272. His birdies on the concluding two holes sealed a two-shot victory over Rory McIlroy, Victor Dubuisson and Justin Rose.

The win earned Stenson $985,476 and, for finishing second on the European Tour money list, an $800,000 bonus. He is also expected to rise to No. 2- behind Rory McIlroy - when the new World Golf Ranking is released on Monday.

"It would be nice to have been ranked the world's best at some point, but if I had the choice I would go for a major championship so I am going to try and be in good shape for them next year," Stenson told the European Tour's website. His most recent title came a year ago in Dubai.

As for his birdie-birdie finish, he added, "It feels great. I'm exhausted to say the least. It was hot out there and tricky on the back nine. I did not play my best and had a shocking hole on 11. I walked up to the tee with too much club in my hand and instead of changing I tried to cut a 2-iron but hit a push, slice, shank straight into the buildings.

"That knocked me back but I did not give up. I just had to dig in there and wait for something to happen. I had a couple of close calls this year to get my win and it was not to be. It's been close but eventually you get something if you stick around and I surely did that."

Before the tournament even started, McIlroy had claimed Player of the Year honors from both the PGA of America and PGA Tour and earlier in the week won the European Tour's Race to Dubai, emblematic of the top European Tour player.

The 25-year-old Northern Irishman tried to put pressure on Stenson - who began Sunday tied for the lead with Rafa Cabrera-Bello of Spain - closing with a four-birdie 68, but McIlroy couldn't quite catch the tall Swede.

Despite not winning, McIlroy was pleased with his performance. "I just didn't play well enough to win, and if I had won playing like that, it would have been a surprise," said McIlroy, who hadn't played in competition for six weeks as he focused on an upcoming lawsuit against his former management company. "And that's a really big positive, not just going into next year, but going into the rest of my career.

"Because in seasons gone, by, a bad week for me would have resulted me finishing in the middle of the pack and not in contention like this week. That consistency in results is something I've been really pleased with this season. Yet all credit to Henrik. He deserved it."

Dubuisson had a 68 and Rose a 69 to join McIlroy in second. Three strokes further down the leaderboard were Shane Lowry (66), South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen (66), Sweden's Robert Karlsson (69) and England's Tyrell Hatton (70).

Rose gave it his best shot but came up just short. "All week I was clawing my way back, right from the start on Thursday," the 34-year-old said of his opening 71. "Today I did everything I needed to do early in my round and made a few poor mistakes in the middle of the round. That was where I struggled.

"But all in all, lots of positives and a good week. It's a little bit like Shanghai (the BMW Masters) where I had a good chance there as well after a poor start (4-over after four holes). But at least it tells me I'm playing well and getting myself into contention. It's never easy to win every time."

Lowry began the tournament with the lead with his first 66; in between he posted a 71 and 72. Still, his second 6-under outing will move the Irishman into the top-50 in the world rankings and a guaranteed spot at next April's Masters.

"It was one of the goals for me playing these last four tournaments," said the 27-year-old, who won his first professional tournament - the 2009 Irish Open - as an amateur. "I've been between 52 and 54 in the world for a month or so now and I felt like I have been playing the golf to have the high finish to get in there.

"I just wasn't scoring well and finishing 15th to 25th. A nice, high finish this week is going to do it for me so I'm thrilled and I can't wait till next April."

Cabrera-Bello posted a 75 to fall down the leaderboard into a tie for ninth at 277 with South Africa's Branden Grace and Dutchman Joost Luiten, who each shot 70s.

Brooks Koepka, who won last week in Turkey but suffered from food poisoning earlier this week, opened with a 78 that put him in last place. But since then the 24-year-old Floridian rallied with scores of 68, 70 and 69 to be the highest-finishing American at 4-under 284 and T-42.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2014/tournamentid=2014092/leaderboard/index.html.