DUBAI: Matthew Fitzpatrick birdied the last hole to win the $8 million DP World Tour Championship on Sunday as Henrik Stenson won the Race to Dubai for a second time.
England’s Fitzpatrick was completing a remarkable season in which he represented Europe in the Ryder Cup within two years of turning professional, and backed it up by winning the season-ending championship.
The 22-year-old closed with a 67 for a 17-under par total at the Earth course of Jumeirah Golf Estates.
That was one better than compatriot Tyrrell Hatton who made a bogey on the last hole after hitting his tee shot into the water.
Stenson won the Race to Dubai, the Swede shooting a seven-under par 65 on the final day to finish on a 12-under par total.
He finished tied with Rory McIlroy, who needed to win the tournament to deny Stenson, but two of his closest rivals — Masters champion Danny Willett of England and four-time European Tour winner this year Alex Noren of Sweden — ranked second and third in the Race to Dubai at the start of the week, finished behind him.
Willett was tied 50 at one-under par, while Noren could do no better than tied 23rd at eight-under par.
Stenson finished on 4,148,402 points, with Willett second on 3,734,527. Noren was third, but Hatton pushed McIlroy to fifth place with his runner-up finish.
A delighted Stenson said: “It’s been the best year of my career when I sum it up, and this certainly didn’t make it any worse. It’s some very nice names on this trophy, so I’m delighted and proud to get my name on it again.
“It’s hard enough to do one time, but to do two is something I’m very pleased with, and of course it shows how well I played over the course of the year.
“I had the BMW International Open win, and the win at The Open, but then it was another I think ten really good tournaments throughout the year that when we sum it all up, that’s why we’re sitting here with this right next to me.”
Fitzpatrick was adding this tournament to his win in the Nordea Masters.
He was solid throughout the round except for a pulled tee shot on the 15th hole that somehow came back in play after hitting a tree.
Fitzpatrick had already played a provisional ball there, but managed to make a crucial par with the original ball.
Up ahead, Hatton led by one but looked set to make a bogey on the par-3 17th, where his ball got plugged in the bunker slope on the back wall.
He hacked it into the bunker, and then holed out his third shot to stay one ahead.
But Hatton’s luck ran out on the 18th, when he smashed his tee shot into the stream that runs in the middle of the fairway. From there, he could only make a bogey and then watched Fitzpatrick edge ahead with a birdie from the fairway bunker.
After making his four-feet putt for the decisive birdie, Fitzpatrick said: “It’s the most I’ve shaked over a putt in, for ever. I surprised myself. I’m normally quite sort of okay, but yeah, it was a tough one.
“It’s a great way to end the season. This is my best result of my career. There isn’t anything better than that, you know, so yeah, it’s been a very, very good week.”
South African Charl Schwartzel was third at 14-under par 274.