Dubai Desert Classic round-up: Rory McIlroy emulates Stephen Gallacher, 'arc of my career', Richie Ramsay is top Scot

World No 2 emulates Stephen Gallacher as only back-to-back winner of Middle East Major

Stephen Gallacher has company as a back-to-back Hero Dubai Desert Classic champion and it’s no real surprise who that is. In emulating the Scot, world No 2 Rory McIlroy landed a record fourth title triumph in the event. By the time he’s finished in it, they’ll surely have erected a statue of the Northern Irishman at Emirates Golf Club.

Despite being ten shots off the lead at the halfway stage in the event’s 35th edition, McIlroy got his hands on the iconic Dallah Trophy once again, having already done so in 2009, 2015 and 2023. He’s now nudged ahead of Ernie Els when it comes to victories in the ‘Middle East Major’ and there’s surely more to come because he’s simply magic on the Majlis Course. On the back of a brilliant nine-under-par 63 in Saturday’s penultimate circuit, McIlroy signed off with a less-spectacular but primarily polished 70. Finishing with a 14-under-par total, the 34-year-old won by shot from Pole Adrian Meronk (71), with American Cameron Young, the overnight leader, a further shot back after a closing 74.

“Yeah, it's really cool,” admitted McIlroy of becoming the first four-time winner in this event, having now chalked up 11 successive top-ten finishes in it spanning back to 2009. “The arc of my career and Dubai in general have sort of like tracked each other pretty consistently along the way. I remember my first Desert Classic in '06 as an amateur, staying what seemed like out in the desert and it's probably like only ten minutes away now as it's so built up.

Rory McIlroy celebrates with his parents, Rosie and Gerry, after landing a record fourth win in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club. Picture: Warren Little/Getty Images.

“It's always been a place where I come back to and reminisce about my career because I really feel like it's where everything started. At my first Desert Classic, I took a media credential and I walked inside the ropes to follow Tiger [Woods] and and Ernie [Els] and Thomas Björn. Just to think about even the arc of that: Thomas becoming one of my Ryder Cup captains; I ended up buying Ernie’s house (in Florida); I've become really good friends with Tiger. It's just amazing to think back on the last 18 years and sort of where I find myself. I certainly don't take anything for granted, and I always appreciate the opportunity to be able to do what I do. Yeah, it feels amazing to sit here and have won that big coffee pot four times.”

McIlroy started the final day two shots behind Young. Given that he’d trailed the American by 11 shots standing on the 18th tee in the second round, McIlroy set out knowing that he had produced something special on Saturday to get himself in contention here yet again at the business end of proceedings in what is now one of the DP World Tour’s Rolex Series events. Helped by Young, who was bidding to land his first victory on either the DP World Tour or PGA Tour, missing a short birdie putt at the par-5 third then dropping a shot at the short fourth, a three-way tie for the lead soon materialised with both McIlroy and Meronk, first and fourth respectively in last season’s Race to Dubai.

A spot of tree trouble – he had to hit his second shot back-handed – led to Young taking another bogey at the sixth while, in the group ahead, Meronk tossed his club up in the air in disgust as he over-cooked a chip at the side of the green and watched it end up in the water. That cost him a double bogey before the 2023 Seve Ballesteros Award winner then missed a short par putt at the ninth.

McIlroy rolled in a 31-footer for a birdie at the eighth before also converting a 16-foot birdie putt up the slope at the ninth, where that was greeted by the loudest roar of the day. Three clear at the turn, McIlroy’s cushion became four as Young dropped back-to-back shots at the 11th and 12th, but even the top players in the world can feel pressure when trying to finish off a week’s work. A McIlroy bogey at the par-5 13th – his first dropped shot in 38 holes – came just as Meronk went birdie-birdie and, all of a sudden, the lead was down to just one.

Richie Ramsay picked up around £95,000 for tying for 21st on four under.

McIlroy, of course, had let victory slip from his grasp the previous weekend in the inaugural Dubai Invitational at Dubai Creek, but, admittedly helped by Meronk making an untimely bogey at the 16th, that didn’t happen on this occasion. Despite failing to make a birdie on the easier back nine, it was mission accomplished once again for the four-time major winner in this part of the world, where he’s now racked up a total of six title triumphs after also landing a double in the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in 2012 and 2015.

“If the scores on the weekend had been flipped and I shot 70, 63, I'd probably be like, yeah, that was amazing,” said McIlroy, who picked up a cheque for £1.2million for his 17th DP World Tour win, of his weekend’s work. “But the 70 today, I did what I needed to do. I felt like I played a very controlled round of golf. The two birdies on eight and nine were huge to sort of give me that cushion going into the back nine.”

Richie Ramsay finished as the top Scot, picking up around £95,000 for tying for 21st on four under. “I played nicely today, managing my game well,” said the Aberdonian of a closing 70. “Just lacking the putts to really make a difference on the board. But nice to get Race to Dubai points up early and a good platform to progress, even though I feel there is more in the tank.”