The journeyman reached his destination in the desert, as Paul Waring – a 39-year-old Englishman ranked 229th headed into the megabucks tournament – gamely stuck to the task at hand for a life-changing win in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links, earning him a €1.4 million pay-day and a host of benefits including a likely PGA Tour card for next season.
On a day when many of Europe’s biggest names offered pursuit – among them Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood – Waring, securing only his second DP World Tour win some six years after his Nordea Masters success, closed the deal with back-to-back birdies on the final two holes for a 66 and winning total of 24-under-par 264, two shots clear of Hatton.
McIlroy further strengthened his lead at the top of the Race to Dubai standings with a final round 64 for 267, in tied-third position, while Tom McKibbin also shot a closing 64 for 269 which gave him a tied-10th finish, yet still managed to see him slip one place from 17th to 18th in the R2D rankings.
For Shane Lowry, it proved to be a miserable finishing stretch. After starting like a train with three straight birdies and getting within touching distance of Waring when he birdied the 12th, the Offalyman’s poor tee shot on the 14th, narrowly avoiding the hazard, resulted in a bogey which was followed by further dropped shots on the 17th, where he three-putted from the fringe of the green, and the 18th. Lowry signed for a 69 for 270 in tied-13th.
McIlroy’s only dropped shot came on the par-5 seventh, with a poor approach, but he had nine birdies – including a hat-trick from the 13th – to muscle his way into contention, only for Hatton to edge a stroke clear with a birdie on the 18th and then Waring’s brilliant finish, highlighted by a 40 footer on the 17th, to outgun everyone.
“I wanted to birdie the last. I know that birdie, even if it isn’t to win the tournament this week, it obviously gives me that little bit extra of a cushion going into [the DP World Tour Championship] next week. Every shot counts at this moment in time, it gives myself a little bit more of a cushion going into Dubai,” said McIlroy, who is seeking a sixth career Harry Vardon Trophy for topping the European Tour’s order of merit.
McKibbin’s strong final round (an eagle, eight birdies and two bogeys) gave him a ninth top-10 finish of the season, yet – especially with Waring’s win which moved him from 48th to fifth on the updated order of merit standings – saw the 21-year-old Ulsterman slip one place to 17th and on the bubble of claiming one of the 10 PGA Tour cards which will be confirmed after the Tour Championship in Dubai.
Waring, with this win, is guarantee one of them after a life-changing Rolex Series win in Abu Dhabi: his bogey-free 66 saw him hold off one challenge after another, retaining his focus and, on the occasions he got into trouble, producing superb par-saving putts. The manner of his closure, though, was hugely impressive with that 40-footer on the penultimate hole followed by an adrenaline fuelled 3-wood approach over the back of the 18th from where he got up and down for a birdie.
Of jumping to fifth in the R2D rankings with just one tournament to finish, in Dubai where he and has family have made their home, and securing one of the PGA Tour cards, Waring remarked: “I was quite happy living in Dubai to be honest with you. It’s going to be a long way to travel, a long commute over to America. But I’m looking forward to that. It’s a new challenge.”
Waring’s only previous tour win came six years ago but he had expected another sooner or later. It finally came in a big way in Abu Dhabi.
“I don’t want to sound over the top or anything but I felt like my golf game has been in such a good place over the last year, I just haven’t put it all together. And then this week arrives and you know what, a week for it all to come together, putting nicely, approach play was great, great off the tee. It’s nice to put it all together and get a tournament like this.”
The success was also likely to bring him close to 100th in the updated world rankings.
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