A jubilant Rory McIlroy believes he has plenty of room for improvement after holding off the challenge of rival Patrick Reed to win a third Hero Dubai Desert Classic title in dramatic style.
McIlroy birdied the final two holes at Emirates Golf Club to card a closing 68 and finish a shot ahead of Reed on 19 under par as the first Monday finish in the tournament's history proved well worth the wait.
Playing in the group ahead, Reed had also birdied the 18th to complete a superb 65 and set the clubhouse target, but McIlroy was not to be denied and holed from 15 feet on the last to cement his status as world number one.
"It means a lot," said McIlroy, who had never previously won on his first start of the calendar year.
"It was a battle all day, it’s been a battle all week. I really feel I haven’t had my best all week but I just managed my game so well and played really smart.
"Just ecstatic that I gave myself an opportunity the first week back out and there’s tonnes of room for improvement but it’s a great start to the year."
McIlroy and Reed had begun the week embroiled in a war of words after Reed threw a tee towards McIlroy after being snubbed by him on the practice range.
Never in doubt 🙌@McIlroyRory claims his first Rolex Series victory.#HeroDDC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/GVylbKzHVD
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 30, 2023
McIlroy said he did not see the tee but was unhappy at being subpoenaed on Christmas Eve by the lawyer representing Reed in a defamation lawsuit against several media members and organisations, although McIlroy’s subpoena relates to a separate suit filed by Larry Klayman against the PGA Tour.
With McIlroy watching from the tee, Reed also became involved in another rules controversy in the third round when his tee shot on the 17th lodged in a palm tree.
The former Masters champion and rules officials used binoculars to identify the ball, allowing Reed to take a penalty drop near the base of the tree instead of having to return to the tee.
Reed insisted he was "100%" sure that he could identify his ball, although television footage appeared to cast doubt on which tree it had landed in and tournament officials issued a statement to clarify the ruling.
Asked if Reed’s presence on the leaderboard had spurred him on, McIlroy told Sky Sports: "Mentally, today was probably one of the toughest rounds I’ve ever had to play because it would be really easy to let your emotions get in the way.
"I just really had to concentrate on focusing on myself, forget who was up there and I did that really, really well. I feel like I showed a lot of mental strength out there and again, something to really build on for the rest of the year."
After the round, Reed was asked if he had seen the debate about his incident in the third round on social media.
"I don't really look at media or social media whenever I’m playing a tournament," Reed said in quotes reported by Golf Digest. "Normally it’s always negative, so I try to stay away from it.
"I’ve heard about it, but really all I can say is that I looked through the binoculars, identified my golf ball and explained what my markings were to the rules official. He looked and he identified (the ball) exactly the same way I did.
"The good thing is I know who I am. All I can do is focus on my golf and focus on me."
