[PHOTO: Richard Heathcote]

Journeyman Paul Waring of England birdied the final two holes to fend off late challenges from Tyrrell Hatton and Rory McIlroy and win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

The victory was his second in 332 starts on the DP World Tour – but his most important. It earned him $US1,530,000, but also pushed him to fifth on the DP World Tour season-long Race to Dubai points list, virtually assuring he finishes in the top 10 after next week’s season finale. The top 10 on the list who don’t already have eligibility on the PGA Tour earn PGA Tour cards for 2025.

“It was quite an easy day really, wasn’t it?” he said. “It just means so much to so many other things that come with that win. That said, early in the week, to actually keep control of myself in the way that I did today, I’m really proud of myself. Playing partner was amazing, Shane [Lowry], was great as was Niklas [Norgaard]. I’m a bit taken aback right now.

“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 past year. 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.”

Hatton also birdied the final two holes ahead of Waring to post a final round, eight-under 64 and a 72-hole total of 22-under 266. But 39-year-old Waring, who shot a course-record 61 in the second round, followed suit with his own closing birdies for a round of six-under 66 and a 72-hole total of 24-under 264.

“I was absolutely fine until, I’ll be honest with you, I thought the second shot into 18 was absolutely perfect. To see it go long was, Right, I’ve still got business, still got stuff to do.

“So got my head back on. I’ll be honest, legs were shaking a little bit over that last putt. I just wanted to make sure that nothing else could happen and great to roll that one in on the last as well.”

Waring’s previous DP World Tour win came at the 2016 Nordea Masters.

McIlroy, meanwhile, finished with an eight-under 64 and tied for third with Matt Wallace of England and Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark, three strokes off the lead.