Tyrrell Hatton won a record-tying fifth Rolex Series title at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday – the culmination of a memorable week on the DP World Tour at Emirates Golf Club.
The Englishman, one of golf’s form players with two individual titles since October, described winning the Dallah Trophy as “a dream come true”, having watched the event as a child.
While the result was in doubt up until the last putt of a compelling final round, there were plenty of other moments of significance and here, we take a look back at what you might have missed from the $9million showpiece that opened the International Swing on the 2025 Race to Dubai.
'That’s pretty cool' – McIlroy on extending fine record
Rory McIlroy began the week with hopes of a third straight win at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and fifth overall, but despite his best efforts with a late Sunday charge he was left to settle for the consolation of a sequence of results over the Majlis Course that not even he knew of.
“That’s pretty cool,” said the Northern Irishman after being told he had finished in the top ten for a 12th consecutive time, dating back to the first of his record four victories in 2009.
After coming back from ten shots behind at the halfway stage to win last year, he was unable to repeat such heroics this time as a closing six-under-par 66 saw him settle for a tie for fourth, three behind Ryder Cup team-mate Hatton.
“I probably just left myself a bit too much to do after three days,” he said, having gone into the final day seven off 54-hole leader Daniel Hillier.
Min Woo Lee teams up with Major-winning caddie
A new year can often mean the start of a new partnership between player and caddie, and that proved the case for Min Woo Lee.
The Australian linked up with Brian ‘Bo’ Martin, best known as the Major-winning bagman for Shane Lowry at The Open Championship in 2019 and BMW PGA Championship in 2022.
With the three-time DP World Tour winner set to be next in action at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA TOUR later this month, it remains to be seen for just how long the arrangement continues.
He headed into the weekend in seventh place but was unable to mount a title challenge as a tough finish on Sunday saw him finish tied 17th at six under.
Lorenzo-Vera returns after six-month absence due to mental health
The Hero Dubai Desert Classic has evolved to become one of the first events players look out for when the schedule is revealed. Part of that is down to how well the players are treated, with the tournament organisers bringing back the Mental Fitness Zone after a successful debut 12 months ago.
The importance of this pioneering initiative was highlighted by the return of Mike Lorenzo-Vera following a six-month absence since his last Tour start due to his mental health. It was uplifting to see the Frenchman impress in the opening round with a five-under-par 67 on his way to comfortably making the cut.
“I had a lot of treatment to do and resting and working a lot on my mental strength," he said of what he has done during his time away from the tour. “Just kept the bag in the garage for like three months or four months, and I decided to restart by only making some 18 holes, 27 holes with a buggy. You know, nothing too hard, and not really any big practice sessions. Just play golf, find joy into the game, and it feels good.”
Hovland details swing struggles
Viktor Hovland returned to the Hero Dubai Desert Classic for the first time since his victory in 2022 last week.
Despite the Norwegian’s status as a top ten golfer, his form has been on the slide over the last year. He failed to win in a calendar year for the first time as a professional in 2024, spending much of his campaign searching for solutions to swing issues.
The highs of his 2023 season, one in which he won the FedEx Cup and proved instrumental in helping Team Europe win the Ryder Cup, are memories he yearns to recreate.
“I think a lot of people have it maybe misconstrued a little bit that I made a conscious decision to go down this rabbit hole,“ he explained. “I think it's just your golf swing is an ever-evolving organism, and every week you're out here playing, you have intentions and feels that would seem relatively innocuous. But you keep those intentions and feels in there, and then they might morph into something else.”
The 27-year-old, who was working with a new swing coach, T.J. Yeaton, in Dubai, started strongly with three birdies in his opening four holes but that was as good as it got as he went on to miss the cut.
Globetrotter MacIntyre in for the long haul
There can be no faulting Robert MacIntyre’s commitment to the DP World Tour as a dual member, with the Scotsman making the long journey from Hawaii to Dubai.
After finishing the Sony Open on the PGA TOUR, the Rolex Series winner took a seven-hour flight to Dallas on Sunday evening, before a four-hour layover. He then flew to Dubai, which took 14 and a half hours, arriving in the Emirate on Tuesday lunchtime.
Such is the impact of that amount of travel, it was perhaps to be expected that he struggled to find his A-game, finishing tied 17th.
It was announced at the start of last week that MacIntyre will take his place in the field for the Porsche Singapore Classic in March. Between now and then, the 28-year-old will return to targeting success stateside.
Amateur trio impress as history is made
It was some week for the three amateurs competing at Emirates Golf Club.
David Ford, who earned his exemption as the top-ranked player from the PGA TOUR University, upstaged the star names to claim a share of the lead after the first round. While he was unable to go on and land an unlikely victory, he did make the cut – something matched by fellow amateurs Preston Summerhays and Adam Bresnu.
The latter, a Moroccan, became the first Arab-born golfer to make the cut in a Rolex Series event, going on to play with Adam Scott in Saturday’s third round as the 20-year-old described his Dubai experience as “like a dream”. He added: “When I was a kid, I was looking at Adam Scott when he won the Masters. I was looking at that and now I just played with him. It was really nice."
But it was American Summerhays who walked away with the low amateur honours after rounds of 70-71-75-70 saw him finish tied 37th at two under.
Arizona State’s Summerhays and the University of North Carolina’s Ford both played in the United States' winning Walker Cup team at St Andrews in 2023.
