LAST UPDATE | 14 Jan

RORY MCILROY HAS narrowly lost out to Tommy Fleetwood on the final round of the Dubai Invitational.

McIlroy was on the brink of victory heading to the final hole after edging one shot ahead of Thriston Lawrence and Fleetwood to go 19-under. But the world number two hit his final tee shot into the water which created an opening for Fleetwood to clinch the victory. 

McIlroy went into the final round one shot behind Fleetwood, picking up two birdies on the third and fifth holes before bogeying the sixth. The world number two came to life on the turn, adding three birdies in-a-row between the 11th and 13th holes and a sixth birdie on the 15th.

An intriguing three-way tie for the lead developed as Lawrence, McIlroy and Fleetwood sat on 18-under. Fleetwood then dropped a shot on the 16th, but roared back into contention with a birdie on the 17th. 

Lawrence closed out with a 64 to leave McIlroy and Fleetwood to battle it out for the outright lead. McIlroy made his move on the 17th to go 19-under, but was ultimately undone by that horror tee shot on the 18th.

“I’m really happy for Tommy,” said McIlroy. “He’s played some incredible golf over the last year without actually getting a win. So for him to get the win here, it’s great for him and it will do his confidence a world of good and hopefully he kicks on from it.

“I think first week back out, I think you’re going to expect some of those sloppy mistakes and unfortunately for me those mistakes came at the wrong time today. But I’ll reflect on it and learn from today and there’s still a lot of good stuff in there. But just need to tidy up some of the edges and if I do that, I feel good going into next week.”

“I’m very happy,” said Fleetwood. “It was amazing winning. Like almost everybody else in the world of golf, I don’t win anywhere near as much as I would like to but just that winning feeling is great.

“This is obviously where I live and have a lot of support. It’s great to kick off the year with a great result and push on from here.

“I was very happy with the way I played today for the large majority of the round, felt like I didn’t hole some of the putts that I wanted to. I just stayed patient and kept playing. I knew I was playing very, very well, and even the last two holes, played 17 and 18 great.”

With reporting from Press Association

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Written by Sinead Farrell and posted on the42.ie