Fleetwood wins Race to Dubai as Rahm triumphs at DP World Tour Championship
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Tommy Fleetwood has been crowned Race to Dubai champion after Jon Rahm triumphed on the final day of the DP World Tour Championship to win his second European Tour event on the last day of the season.
Tommy Fleetwood finished a disappointing Sunday in a tie for 21st place, but thanks to a difficult back nine for Justin Rose it was the 26-year-old who finished as Europe’s No. 1 in a season where he has also won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the HNA Open de France.
The season-ending title was in the hands of Justin Rose for much of Sunday, who was both leading and looking likely to win the tournament and Race to Dubai double. This seemed even more sure after Tommy Fleetwood posted back-to-back bogeys on his final two holes to post a disappointing 74, but Rose came undone himself on the inward nine.
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Rose, who needed to finish just solo fourth to win the Race to Dubai, put his second shot in the water on the 14th and would end up carding his first bogey of the day to drop out of the lead.
The World No.6 then found a fairway bunker off the 16th tee and when he came up short of the green and failed to get up and down, he was left needing an eagle on the last to get into a tie for second. He made a birdie to sign for 70 but it was ultimately disappointment for the man who was seeking his third win in a row.
“Justin had played unbelievable for three-and-a-half days and it was completely out of my hands after 12 or 13 holes,” Fleetwood said. “But it’s a massive learning curve seeing that still anything can happen, and it’s still definitely not sunk in.”
“My ultimate goal in life is to be the best player in the world, that will always be the same,” he added. “Whether I achieve it or not is another thing, but I’ll always strive for that. I think this year has been a big year in terms of my career. You know, some of the performances, I have put myself on the world stage a bit more.”
“When we sit down after this year, we’ll make sure that the goals get high and lofty and that I push myself to achieve more”
Instead, it was recently named European Tour rookie of the year Jon Rahm who took home the DP World Tour Championship title, coming home in 33 to close with a 67. The Spaniard had begun the day one shot adrift of Rose, but finished the tournament at 19-under-par to win his second Rolex Series event by a single shot over Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Shane Lowry.
“It’s hard to sum it up,” said Rahm. “An incredible week, I could not be more proud of what I’ve done this week. It could be very easy to just be content with getting the award and just being here and trying to play the best.
“Having the weekend that I’ve had, actually shooting 12 under on the last 36 holes, bogey-free round today, it’s really special.
“I didn’t plan on being here at the beginning of the year and I sure didn’t plan on winning it so it’s an incredible feeling.”
The margins were so tight in the season-long battle that had Rose finished one shot better he would have won the Race to Dubai, while a birdie rather than a bogey on the last and a play-off win over Rahm would have seen Garcia take the crown.
In the end, Garcia slipped to fourth in the Rankings as he was overtaken by countryman Rahm, with Rose finishing second behind fellow Englishman Fleetwood.
England’s Tyrrell Hatton and American Julian Suri finished at 16 under, with two more Americans in Patrick Reed and Peter Uihlein a further shot back.
