Shane Lowry of Ireland has won the Abu Dhabi Championship in the United Arab Emirates. Lowry finished on 18-under-par, one shot ahead of South African Richard Sterne. Sterne blew a four shot lead on the back nine, and with that a chance of winning on the European Tour after a six year drought.
Relive @ShaneLowryGolf‘s wild winning round in three minutes#ADGolfChamps #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/axsb5RDfhP
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 19, 2019
Lowry began the final round with a three shot advantage over Sterne. Sterne however, cancelled this deficit out with birdies on the opening three holes. The South African then took the lead at the fifth with another birdie and he stretched it even further with back-to-back birdies at the eighth and ninth.
Lowry, on the other hand, was struggling, cancelling out his two birdies on the outward nine with three bogeys. Another bogey at 11 and the Irishman found himself four shots behind Sterne. The back nine dried up for the South African, but Lowry seemed to have found a second wind with back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13 and he cut what looked like a comprehensive lead down to two.
The pressure started to tell on Sterne and bogeys at 14 and 16 levelled things between the pair. A wayward drive by the South African at the final hole left the door slightly ajar for Lowry and that’s all the Irishman needed to cash in.
Louis Oosthuizen finished four shots off the lead in fourth.
The final #ADGolfChamps leaderboard…
Full Results: https://t.co/Lriqf8DsSL pic.twitter.com/taZKEm7PR3
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 19, 2019
