Tommy Fleetwood is your Race To Dubai winner.
Jon Rahm, young and super-talented, is the DP World Tour Championship winner.
Both can thank Justin Rose.
Rose had the Race To Dubai and the DP World title in his back pocket Sunday after four front-nine birdies got him to 19-under par, and it was looking like a runaway.
Then the improbable happened.
After no mental or ball striking errors to start the day, Rose came totally unhinged starting at the 12th hole. A horrible bunker shot there, a ball in the water at the par five 14th and a missed three-footer at the 16th produced three bogeys that proved incredibly costly. That missed short putt cost him the overall Race To Dubai title. Had he made that one, he would have tied for second at 18-under and won.
Instead, Fleetwood survived a dreadful closing 74 that dropped him into a tie for 21st. But his 11-under total was good enough to edge Rose, who had won his last two starts coming into the Jumeirah Golf Estates.
Rahm was rock-steady all day — five birdies on a clean scorecard. He posted 19-under and put an end to Shane Lowry’s hopes. Lowry finished early, shot 63 and waited at 18-under.
“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.”
Fleetwood was ecstatic after sitting in the scorer’s trailer with his fiancee and new baby boy, waiting to see if Rose could make eagle at the 18th. Rose didn’t and Fleetwood was crowned the Race winner:
“It wasn’t pretty today,” the young Englishman admitted. “I didn’t play how I’d like to and it just showed how tough golf is. From 11 and 12 onwards it was difficult not to think about what Justin was doing.
“He played amazing for three-and-half days and that back nine showed golf can be a tough and unfair game, but I’ll say it for a while that Race To Dubai champion is very, very cool.
“It’s been a big year, baby Frankie arriving safely and he’s great, I’m going to get married in a couple of weeks. It has been the best year of my life by an absolute mile.
“On the course has been great, I’ve played some of the best golf of my career and done things that I’ve never done before. Off the course I’m just such a happy person so we’ll have to think of ways to better this one.”
