The Punter's De-brief: Wonderful Waring hangs tough in Abu Dhabi

• Longshot claims the spoils on the DP World Tour

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Having posted rounds of 64 and 61 over the first two days around a windless Yas Links, pre-event 300.0299/1 chance, Paul Waring, was trading at around 11/43.75 to win the Abu Dhabi Championship when he led by five strokes at the halfway stage.

His staggering 36 hole total of 19-under-par is now the new DP World Tour record for the lowest score in relation to par but he hit the buffers in round three with a stuttering one-over-par 73 that saw his lead reduced to just one.

Trading at 4.77/2 with a bunch of top-class players within four strokes with 18 to play, it would have been totally understandable if the 39-year-old Englishman had lost his nerve but a birdie putt from seven feet at the first settled his nerves nicely and he was superb after that.

On another day of low scoring, a number of players looked like putting the heat on Waring during the final round.

Rory McIlroy, who had begun the day five back, birdied four of the first six holes but he hit the skids with a bogey at the par five seventh. Pre-event 75.074/1 chance, Niklas Norgaard, who had begun the final round trailing the leader by just a stroke, was matched at a low of 3.55, and 12.011/1 chance, Tommy Fleetwood, who eventually finished tied for sixth, hit a low of 2.915/8. 18/119.00 shot, Shane Lowry, was matched at as short as 2.6213/8 but it was Tyrrell Hatton that emerged as the biggest threat to Waring when he birdied the last two holes to tie the Englishman.

Waring still had three holes to play when Hatton signed for a 64 to get to 22-under-par and safely in the clubhouse. he was matched at a low of 2.35/4.

The 16^th and 17^th were both averaging over-par and although a par five, the finishing hole is far from straightforward, so it was perfectly understandable that the market considered Hatton such a threat.

Having won only once before on the DP World Tour, back in 2018, had Waring blown up at the finish nobody would have been surprised but he made a great par at 16 before sealing the deal at 17.

Victor Perez holed out from the greenside bunker for a birdie two at the par three 17^th to take control of the 2023 edition of the event and Waring emulated him this time around with this 40-footer to lead by one with one to play.

"Would you believe it!" @PaulWaringGolf birdies the penultimate hole to take a one-shot lead to the 18 #ADGolfChamps | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/u3IAVpSWUM

-- DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 10, 2024

After a great drive and second shot at the 72^nd hole, Waring got-up-and down for birdie to win by two and nobody could begrudge the journeyman pro's big day in the sun.

It was an extremely impressive victory given the circumstances and the strength of the field.

Eckroat doubles up in Mexico

Over on the PGA Tour, six men were separated by just a stroke with a round to go at the World Wide Technology Championship but it didn't take long for pre-event 42.041/1 shot, Austin Eckroat, to take control.

Having sat tied for fourth and one off the lead, the 25-year-old was an 8/19.00 chance with a round to go but after playing his first six holes in four-under, he emerged as the man they all had to beat.

Another birdie dropped at the eighth and following three in-a-row after the turn, defeat looking highly unlikely.

It was an impressive performance and after another pair of birdies at 14 and 17, Eckroat could afford a slip up on 18 to win by one.

Justin Lower and Carson Young, who were matched at lows of 2.6213/8 and 3.7511/4, must feel hard done by given they both began the final round tied for the lead with the recent ZOZO Championship winner, Nico Echavarria, and that they both shot seven-under-par 65s but Eckroat trumped them by two despite a dropped shot on the par five 18^th after his under-hit third shot failed to stay on the green.

Eckroat was just as impressive when getting off the mark on the PGA Tour in March at the Cognizant Championship in Florida and he looks to have a big future.

Links form comes to the fore again in Abu Dhabi

Paul Waring set the course record at Yas Links on Friday and that wasn't his first course record...

He signed off the Irish Open in September with an unprecedented seven-under-par around Royal County Down so he'd more than advertised his links golf credentials.

In addition to links specialist, Tommy Fleetwood, Open champions, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, both contended strongly, and Tyrrell Hatton, who finished in solo second, was bidding to win back-to-back tournaments having won his third Alfred Dunhill Links title last month.

That tournament looks the best guide given it's an event that last year's Abu Dhabi Championship winner, Perez, won back in 2019, and that Thorbjorn Olesen also gave the crossover form a boost.

The Dane finished tied for third alongside Matt Wallace and Rory yesterday and he too won the Alfred Dunhill Links in 2015.

At 300.0299/1, Waring was a huge outsider before the off but he's far from the first longshot to take the title. Lee Westwood went off at 140.0139/1 in 2020, Lowry was matched at a triple-figure price before the off in 2019 and the four winners between 2012 and 2015 were all virtually impossible to pick before the off.

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