Rory McIlroy won a record-breaking fourth Hero Dubai Desert Classic as he successfully defended his title on a dramatic afternoon at Emirates Golf Club.
The Northern Irishman claimed a maiden Rolex Series crown at this event 12 months ago but came into the weekend ten shots back before a stunning third-round 63 put him into the final group on Sunday.
He then turned a two-shot deficit into a four-shot lead with six holes to play before a bogey on the 13th gave the chasing Adrian Meronk and Cameron Young a glimmer of hope.
Pole Meronk cut the lead to one as he signed for a 71 but McIlroy held his nerve down the stretch and carded a 70 for a 14 under par total and a one-shot win. Young finished with a 74 to sit at 12 under, two shots clear of Canadian Aaron Cockerill, Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal and Chilean Joaquin Niemann.
The win takes McIlroy past Ernie Els’ hat-trick of Desert Classic victories. He also becomes just the second player to successfully defend this title after Stephen Gallacher lifted the Dallah Trophy in 2013 and 2014 and makes it six wins in Dubai with his two victories at the DP World Tour Championship.
Speaking after his record-breaking win, McIlroy said: “On Friday night I thought that if I could shoot 10 under over the weekend I would have a really good chance to win. I shot 11 under and ended up winning by one.
“The pivotal point for me came on the eighth and ninth hole – making two threes there, that sort of set me up to try to control it on the way in. I made that one blunder on 13 and made bogey there but I felt like I steadied the ship well over the last few holes and it was one of those days where there wasn’t a ton of fireworks just because the course was so difficult. I held on as best as I could and thankfully no one around the top of the leaderboard made much of a run.
“It’s a great start to the season. I’ve played the game long enough to sort of know how these things are going to go. Thankfully I played the golf I needed to and it’s just incredible to get my fourth win here at the Emirates.”
He added: “It’s amazing to sit here having won my fourth Dubai Desert Classic. I first came to Dubai 18 years ago – I took a media pass and I walked inside the ropes to follow Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn. Years later, Thomas was my Ryder Cup captain; I ended up buying Ernie’s house in Florida, and I’ve become really good friends with Tiger. It’s just amazing to think back on the last 18 years and look at the position I find myself now. I certainly don’t take anything for granted, and I always appreciate the opportunity to be able to do what I do.”
What new equipment is McIlroy using?
McIlroy averaged 329.6 yards off the tee this week, leading the field in driving distance. McIlroy was using the TaylorMade Qi10 driver which is part of the ‘most forgiving family of drivers’ the company has produced with the innovative lineup of Qi10 Max, Qi10 LS and Qi10 of which all models are featured on tour globally.
After extensive testing McIlroy decided on the Qi10 as he prefers look and feel of the larger head. The Qi10 head launches higher than LS coupled with new golf ball which has a lower peak height. McIlroy also saw tighter spin rates overall and more consistent results on mishits. In addition to the new Qi10 driver in the bag, McIlroy has paired this with new Qi10 fairways offering him optimal spin numbers with the larger and more forgiving Qi10 fairway heads.
In addition, McIlroy’s equipment also has a new feature in his bag, the all new TP5x golf ball. In offseason testing McIlroy gained considerable distance with his irons and ball speed with his driver. Overall, the ball produced a flatter and lower peak trajectory with driver and a softer feel with more spin around the greens.
Rounding off the new additions in McIlroy’s bag is his new Spider Tour X putter. After first seeing multiple versions of Spider Tour X at the BMW Championship in 2023, McIlroy gravitated toward the putter that suited his eye best. His Spider Tour X has a slightly shallower face angle matched with the face angle spec of his previous gamer.
Rory McIlroy WITB
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9°)
Fairway woods: TaylorMade Qi10 3 (15°), 5 (19°)
Irons: TaylorMade P·760 (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9)
Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind 4 (46° SB, 50° SB, 54° SB, 60° LB)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x