Illness ends Shane Lowry hopes in Dubai

The European Tour’s £6m season-ending event began on time despite a torrential overnight storm in Dubai today – but it was over for Ireland’s Shane Lowry.

In a move that looked like crushing his hopes of reaching the world’s top 50 by the end of the year and earning a spot in next April’s US Masters – he has no other starts planned – the Portugal Masters champion withdrew from the DP World Tour Championship after falling ill with a virus.