Gary Stal joy as Martin Kaymer slides
Kaymer carried a six-shot lead going into the final round and extended his advantage to eight shots after birdies at three of his first four holes, but it went downhill fast for the three-time winner soon after.
A bogey at the sixth, a double bogey at the ninth and a triple bogey at the 13th led to Kaymer’s demise and, although he stopped the rot with five successive pars, he ran out of holes with which to recover to gift Stal his maiden European title.
US Open champion Kaymer eventually finished third behind Stal and runner-up Rory McIlroy – the German’s three-over-par 75 the joint worst of the day with England’s Andy Sullivan – and he admitted afterwards he was struggling to process his spectacular collapse.
Stal recorded a last day 65 for a 19-under par tally while McIlroy, who birdied the last from a greenside bunker, signed for a 66 and an 18-under par to also record a fourth second place finish in his past five appearances in the UAE capital.
A shell-shocked Kaymer said afterwards: “I am surprised, a little shocked and I don’t really know how to put it into words.”
McIlroy, like Stal, went into the final day trailing eight shots behind Kaymer and for all intentions purposes staring at finishing runner-up. “I was told on the 15th tee Martin had made triple on 13 so I knew with a good finish, you never know what could happen,” he said.
“I was pretty aware of what was happening the last sort of four or five holes, so I knew I was in there with a chance. But then I have to say going out today, my goal today was to finish second. I didn’t think I was going to get close to winning the tournament. I think Martin was 10 ahead at one point. You then starting thinking from there, there’s only one winner, but just shows you, funny things can happen in this game. ”
“It seems at the moment I am always the bridesmaid,” said McIlroy.
“If you take out last month’s Australian Open, I was second in the Tour Championship, second in the Dunhill Links, second in the DP World Tour Championship and now second here again in Abu Dhabi.”
McIlroy will head to Dubai for a week’s practice ahead of teeing up next Sunday in the Abu Dhabi Invitational, a one-day Pro-Am format on the Yas Links course.
“I played a social round on Yas Links last year when we were here, so I might finally get my first win here in Abu Dhabi next week,” he said smiling.
“But, looking back, it’s been a great week to see where my game is and to know what I need to work on going forward, so it’s a good performance to finish 18-under par.
“And ball-striking wise it’s been a great week. It’s been a really comfortable week and better than I thought given I had not touched a club for a month.”
McIlroy’s effort earned him €253,198 and sees him go straight in at ninth on the Race to Dubai.
