Tommy Fleetwood shed tears after retaining his title, Ryan Fox closed the gap on Rory McIlroy in the season-long rankings and Sebastian Söderberg climbed the leaderboard to seal a debut season-ending Dubai visit on the final day in Sun City.
Here is everything you need to know from Sunday at Gary Player Country Club.
Fleetwood returns to winner’s circle
Three years on from his previous DP World Tour victory at the very same event, Tommy Fleetwood defended his title after pipping Ryan Fox following a thrilling battle down the stretch. The Englishman carded a final-round 67 to reach 11 under, finishing one shot better off than the New Zealander at the end of a day that was disrupted by a three-hour delay due to a storm warning. Beginning the final day with a three-shot deficit, the 31-year-old made a hole-out eagle from a bunker, four birdies and a bogey to emulate the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Nick Price and Ernie Els to have gone back-to-back in Sun City. And yet it could have been so different as Fleetwood admitted he almost pulled out on Thursday due to sickness. “The doctor here has been amazing,” he said. “I just gave his little son the winning golf ball. Without him there was not a chance on Thursday I'd have played.” The victory is his sixth on the DP World Tour and catapults him up nine places to fourth on the DP World Tour Rankings in Partnership with Rolex, ahead of this week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship. “One of my biggest goals for a while has been to win with my whole family here,” added an emotional Fleetwood, whose mother died in July. “Frankie (his son) is always saying I never win anything and brings medals home from school for me. I’ve wanted to win with them here for such a long time – they come, and they disappear, they are at the airport. The kids have exams tomorrow so have to get to school.”
Consolation for Fox as he takes a big chunk out of McIlroy’s rankings lead
Fine margins. A closing bogey meant Fox narrowly missed out on his third DP World Tour title of the season, which would have seen him overtake World Number One Rory McIlroy at the top of the DP World Rankings in Partnership with Rolex. Prior to that solitary blemish he had been flawless, finishing the day with a four-under 68 to end on ten under. But after three finishes outside the top 50 on his previous visits to the Gary Player Country Club, Fox was taking the positives as he cut the deficit to McIlroy to less than 130 DP World Tour points. “I could have done a little bit better, but if you had given me second and closing the gap by a decent amount on Rory at the start of the week, I would have taken it,” he said ahead of the season finale in Dubai. “Still got some work to do – he’s the number one player in the world for a reason. Just go out, try to beat the golf course and see what happens. Looking forward to it being in my hands a bit going into next week.” Whatever happens in Dubai, Fox, who has registered victories in Ras al Khaimah and Scotland in 2022, will be able to reflect on a career-best year. |
