Golf in Dubai: Rozner claims first European Tour win

Frenchman Antoine Rozner made a brilliant charge on the fourth and final day to deny Englishman Andy Sullivan and win the inaugural Golf in Dubai Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates on Saturday afternoon.

The 27-year-old Parisian knocked in an eight-under 64 on the day for a tournament-winning 25-under on the Fire Course.

Rozner, ranked 204 in the world, won by two strokes over compatriot Mike Lorenzo-Vera and three others — Italian Francesco Laporta, and English pair Matt Wallace and overnight leader Sullivan, for his first European Tour victory in his rookie season.

Rozner’s previous two wins had come on the Challenge Tour when he had won back-to-back events in May last year. He had tasted success in the Challenge de Espana before emerging triumphant in the Prague Golf Challenge.

“(The victory) means a lot. It is such a strange year and we’ve been through so much, all over the world. To be able to get it done today in such a nice fashion, eight-under, it is amazing,” an emotional Rozner said after his round.

Rozner, who finished eighth in the Order of Merit last season to earn a spot for this year’s European Tour, revealed that he hadn’t been keeping track of the leaderboard and that perhaps helped him make the charge.

“I’m going to be very honest, the first time I saw I was in the lead was on the 18th green. I didn’t really look at the leaderboards. I had no idea what’s going on and that’s a good thing. So, let’s just keep playing the way we have been playing and keep being aggressive. And in the end, it really paid off,” he said.

Rozner rolled in seven birdies and an eagle but also had a bogey in his round as vaulted four spots. He had shot nine-under, three-under and five-under in his previous rounds.

The Frenchman became the 14th first time winner this season and his maiden victory after near misses at the Mauritius Open and the Andalucia Masters, came in his 24th appearance on the Tour.

It also vaulted Rozner 31 spots from 55 up to 24th in the Race to Dubai standings, heading into the season-ending DP World Tour Championship at the Earth Course of the Jumeirah Golf Estates, next week.

Sullivan, who had set a course record on the opening day and had led for most of the tournament, could only come up with a two-under 70 for a tournament 23-under to finish tied second.

Beginning the day four strokes adrift off Sullivan, Rozner chipped away into that lead and brought the gap down to two shots following birdies on the fifth, seventh and the ninth. With a clutch of birdies from the ninth to the 11th saw Rozner up the ante and bring the margin down to one. And he then took ownership of the lead with a superb eagle on the 621-yard par-5 13th.

Rozner went on to bogey the par-four 15th and it could’ve been a costly slip if not for Sullivan enduring a bogey on 16th. Rozner kept his composure to birdie the 16th and he then had a chance to wrap his round with an eagle. But he had to settle for a birdie on the par-5 18th.

Having closed out with 25-under, Rozner waited for confirmation and it duly arrived after Sullivan could only manage a par when he had needed an eagle to force the contest into a play-off.

And Rozner was now eagerly looking forward to playing in the DP World Tour Championship.

“I’m very excited because I didn’t get into any Rolex Series events this year. To get into the DP World, the biggest tournament of the year and the last one of the year, it will be really nice for me to be able to compete at the next level,” said Rozner.

james@khaleejtimes.com

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• France