Australia’s Lucas Herbert beat South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout in a play-off to win his first European Tour title at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
Herbert saved par on the first extra hole after hitting his approach into the water and birdied the same hole when the players returned to the par-five 18th at Emirates Golf Club.
The pair had finished tied on nine under par after matching final rounds of 68, the lowest scores of the day as a gusting wind made scoring difficult.
On a brutally tough day in the desert wind, British Open champion Shane Lowry signed for a final round of 74 which still saw him finish in a tie for 11th at four under, such was the difficulty of the conditions.
The Offalyman began with three bogeys in his first four holes but steadied the ship with a string of pars before making an eagle three at the Par 5 13th. He would give those two shots straight back with bogeys on the 14th and 15th but a birdie on the penultimate hole capped off a solid week.
Earlier in the day Pádraig Harrington signed for the same score to finish in a tie for 50th at five over par.
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau held a share of the lead after a birdie on the 13th but bogeyed each of the last four holes to finish in a tie for eighth.
Herbert, who began the day six shots off the lead held by China’s Wu Ashun, told Sky Sports: “The last 10 minutes feels like I’ve just been dreaming. It’s so weird.
“It’s awesome — just the best thing ever. I’ve got a bottle of scotch back home in Australia to celebrate so I can’t wait to get into that with the boys.
“Last week I was probably 20th going into the weekend and for about the 10th time in the last 12 months seemed to just back it out and finished at the back of the field.
“I got really frustrated so put in some really good tactics this week with my mental coach Jamie Glazier, trying to be really positive. It’s such a cliche but it works so much, I felt so confident out there.”
Collated final scores & totals in the European Tour Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Emirates GC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (British unless stated, par 72):
279 Lucas Herbert (Aus) 69 71 71 68 (won at the second extra play-off hole), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 73 66 72 68
281 Adri Arnaus (Spa) 72 68 71 70, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 69 68 72 72, Tom Lewis 73 69 65 74
282 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 69 70 68 75, Ashun Wu (Chn) 69 69 67 77
283 Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 74 71 67 71, Bryson DeChambeau (USA) 70 67 70 76, Robert Macintyre 74 70 67 72
284 Tommy Fleetwood 75 65 69 75, Shane Lowry (Irl) 72 69 69 74, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 69 71 75 69, David Lipsky (USA) 68 75 71 70, Eddie Pepperell 69 67 72 76
285 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 74 69 70, Victor Perez (Fra) 73 66 67 79, Jack Singh Brar 71 71 70 73, Ian Poulter 71 73 71 70, Grant Forrest 73 68 69 75, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 71 73 69, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 73 70 66 76
286 Viktor Hovland (Nor) 71 70 71 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 72 70 73, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 71 72 73 70, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 72 72 70 72
287 Kalle Samooja (Fin) 69 74 70 74, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 69 73 76, Gavin Green (Mal) 73 71 70 73
288 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 76 70 66 76, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 74 71 68 75
289 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 73 73 72 71, Jordan Smith 72 70 71 76, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 71 74 73 71, Thomas Detry (Bel) 73 72 72 72, Scott Jamieson 74 71 69 75
290 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 76 65 80, Justin Harding (Rsa) 71 73 71 75, Jeff Winther (Den) 76 70 65 79, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 70 75 69 76, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 67 77 69 77, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 70 72 76
291 Danny Willett 76 70 72 73, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 75 70 73 73
292 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 68 79 76, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 77 69 72 74, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 72 73 68 79, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 72 71 74 75, Matthew Fitzpatrick 74 71 69 78
293 David Law 75 71 76 71, Romain Wattel (Fra) 70 76 76 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 77 69 69 78, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 73 71 74 75, Lee Westwood 78 68 73 74, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 71 75 73 74
294 Shaun Norris (Rsa) 69 73 72 80, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 69 73 75 77
295 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 77 69 73 76, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 75 70 74 76, Richie Ramsay 73 73 73 76, David Drysdale 74 71 74 76, Callum Shinkwin 73 73 70 79, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 71 75 74 75, Sean Crocker (USA) 72 72 75 76, Niklas Norgaard Moller (Den) 74 72 75 74
296 Mathiam Keyser (Rus) 74 68 72 82, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 70 69 74 83, Joost Luiten (Ned) 72 72 73 79, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 74 70 70 82
298 Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 71 75 77 75
299 Aaron Rai 77 69 72 81
