It wasn’t to be for Robert MacIntyre in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, but he added another admirer in the champion Paul Casey who claimed one title he had always wanted.
The 43-year-old Englishman showed all his experience and control on a tough final day on baked-out greens and tricky pins.
He came home with a two-under 70 for a 17-under aggregate of 271, a comfortable four shots ahead of South Africa’s Brandon Stone. Scotland’s MacIntyre was third a shot further back.
Players with 15 European Tour wins:
🏴 Paul Casey 🆕
🇩🇰 Thomas Bjørn
🇮🇪 Padraig Harrington#ODDC pic.twitter.com/O0iWEHbSNf— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 31, 2021
It was a disappointing two-over 74 on the final day for the 24-year-old from Oban. He briefly pulled level with Casey from his one-stroke overnight deficit, but some crucial three-putts on the crusty putting surfaces saw him fall away.
The third place finish will surely get him into the World’s Top 50 for the first time. But that is the limit of the left-hander’s ambitions, and even in his joy of victory Casey took time to give his backing.
‘He’s that good, he really is’
“Bob is a great player,” said the Englishman. “It was a joy being alongside him today.
“He might be part of that Ryder Cup Team for Pádraig (Harrington); he’s that good, he really is. He kept me on my toes.
“He was really the only guy I was paying attention to or could pay attention to, so limiting today to one dropped shot was key.”
Wow 😲@robert1lefty pauses just before impact.#ODDC pic.twitter.com/dDPsSaD4CF
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 31, 2021
MacIntyre said on Saturday night he needed a good start and a birdie at the second to tie the lead seemed to have him on his way.
“That’s what I do, I fight till the end,” he said. “It was the start I was looking for. I thought, here we go.
“But sometimes it doesn’t go for you, and today was one of those days.”
‘I felt like I have one away’
His expectations were to win, which meant the learning experience wasn’t in his mind in the immediate aftermath.
“Right now, it’s doesn’t feel I’m learning anything. When I go away, I’ll learn a lot,” he said. “But I felt like I gave one away there today.
“The ranking would be unbelievable, but again, it’s not set (for Masters qualification) until the 25th of March and I have a lot to do.
“I just have to keep giving myself chances. Like today, if I keep giving myself these chances, then I’m going to bundle over the line again at some point.
“Paul was brilliant. Again, he stuck to his own game. He played great, he controlled himself. I’ve just got to look up to that and see what I can get to.”
Casey’s telling response
It had started so well for MacIntyre with a superb lob wedge to eight feet and a birdie at the second. But Casey’s response to being tied at the top was telling – a birdie at the long third and then a brilliant chip-in at the fourth.
The Englishman’s dropped shot at the sixth gave MacIntyre a glimpse of light, but it was right then he ran into trouble. A bogey on the short eighth followed, but the hammer blow to the Scot was seeing a short par putt somehow spin out of the hole at the 8th.
MacIntyre was in the water at the ninth and somehow rescued a bogey, but three-putts at the 10th and then the long 13th left him back in third.
He did get one stroke back but by then Casey was coasting, playing controlled golf to play the back-nine in two-under with no-one to threaten him.
‘Amazing winners’
“I’m all emotional with wins, but this one is such a prestigious event,” he said. “Amazing winners, basically a Who’s Who in world golf.
“And 15 (European Tour) wins is pretty cool. The Porsche European Tour victory in 2019 is the last, and this is an iconic event, so I’m so happy.
“I mean, Seve, my hero, won this. It’s one of the coolest trophies in golf, isn’t it?
“I was just foot down. Try to extend (the lead). Try to be like Tyrrell (Hatton) last week and win by a bunch.
“It was the trickiest conditions all week. I didn’t scoreboard watch until I came down the 18th so didn’t know what was going on. I was just trying to keep my nose clean.”
‘The greatest golfing experience I’ve ever had’
Having been restored to the Ryder Cup team superbly in Paris in 2018, Casey wants it again this year.
“I was quoted this week as saying that Paris might be the greatest golfing experience I ever had,” he said. “I think I should take the ‘might’ out.
“I would to love to be part of this team, but there’s a long way to go. If I’m not playing, I’d still love to be part of that team and help.”
Scot Grant Forrest shot a third under-par round – he was six-under for the final three rounds – to finish tied for 27th on four-under. Scott Jamieson had a three-over 75 to finish on the same mark.
