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Perez bags first Rolex Series win
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Ruthless Rahm racks up another win
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Read my Dubai Desert Classic preview
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Read my Farmers Insurance Open preview
With just two shots separating the top 10 and 15 players within three of the lead with a round to go, the Abu Dhabi Championship looked almost as hard to call on Saturday night as it had done on Monday morning.
But then the well-fancied Victor Perez, who had trailed by just a stroke after 54 holes, stamped his authority on proceedings from the get-go with birdies at the first two holes.
Another pair of birdies followed at six and seven to move him two clear of the field. He was odds-on and very much the man to beat after another two at 10 and 11.
Rivals fade as Perez powers to victory
Shane Lowry started nicely with birdies at two and five and the Irishman was matched at a low of 2.546/4 but a string of missed cuts eventually got to him. He shot 40 on the back-nine to finish tied for 28th!
After a slow start to round four, Min Woo Lee, who had begun the day tied for the lead with Lowry and Francesco Molinari, emerged as the strongest challenger to Perez with a run of three straight birdies at five, six and seven.
He was matched at a low of 2.111/10 and Padraig Harrington put in quite a charge from off the pace.
Having been matched in running at 1000.0999/1, the 51-year-old was matched at 13.525/2 when he got to within a stroke of Perez thanks to the Frenchman's bogey at 14 and Padraig's run of three birdies in-a-row from the 12th.
But Perez bounced back with a birdie at the 15 and it was Sweden's Sebastian Soderberg that emerged as the main challenger as the line approached.
Just one ahead of Lee and Soderberg, Perez and Soderberg had a short wait on the intimidating par three 17th tee. The Swede was matched at a low of 3.6553/20 when Perez thinned his tee shot into the greenside bunker after the wait.
Having been the only man to trade at odds-on all day, it looked like Perez was about to open the door for Lee and Soderberg, but the Frenchman produced this piece of magic to stamp his authority back on the event.
Having holed for a two at 17 to give himself a two-stroke lead with just one to play, it looked like a done deal. But Perez made it interesting with a scruffy finish up the last.
After his tee shot found a bunker he caught his shot from the sand fat and it looked for a moment that he'd hacked into the hazard right of the par five 18th fairway.
Fortunately for Pereze, it had had pulled up short of the big trouble and he was to take his medicine and hack it out sideways.
Perez kept his composure nicely to get down in three from 150 yards out for a bogey six. After Lee narrowly missed for the eagle he needed at 18 to tie the leader, a one-stroke win was assured for the Frenchman who was very popular with the punters.
Backed form initial high of 55.054/1 to around 44.043/1, Perez was well tipped up with me and Matt Cooper among many to get him onside before the off, but it had looked an unlikely victory earlier in the week.
He was matched at a high of 230.0229/1 in-running after his triple-bogey seven at the sixth hole on Thursday.
This was Perez's first Rolex Series win but his third DP World Tour title and all three have been secured around links style Kyle Philips-designed courses.
Rahm wins his third event in four starts
It had taken three days for the pre-event 8.07/1 favourite, Jon Rahm to draw alongside the early pacesetter Davis Thompson, but the two began round four tied for the lead and four clear of the rest.
Generally a 400.0399/1 pre-event chance, Thompson was matched at a high of 1000.0999/1 before the off, but the market didn't fancy his chances after 54 holes holes.
Having already been matched at 1.192/11 on Saturday, Rahm was a 1.645/8 chance on Sunday morning and, despite being tied with the Spaniard, Thompson was generally a 4.94/1 chance.
Given he was bidding to win his second American Express title and his third tournament in four starts, it was understandable to see the Spaniard trading at odds-on after birdies at one and two it looked like we were going to witness a very straightforward final round.
Rahm was matched at just 1.152/13 after as he stood on the third tee, but he had to wait until the ninth hole before his next birdie and things got interesting on the back-nine.
Rahm birdied the par five 11th but a three-putt bogey at the par three 13th saw him and Thompson tied at the top again. When the Spaniard missed the 14th green it looked like game on.
Thompson, who was matched at a low of 2.186/5, looked like he may edge back in front. He had just eight feet for a birdie three at the 14th and Rahm was 60 feet away in tee and in a nasty spot in the rough behind the green.
The Spaniard's price spiked all the way out to 3.02/1 but he got up-and down for his par four, Thompson missed his birdie putt and that was as close as it got.
Rahm went on to birdie the par five 16th to lead again before parring the last two holes to win by one.
Rahm is the second player in a row to win the title a second time following Hudson Swafford's success 12 months ago. The Spaniard is the 10th to win the event at least twice, although Arnold Palmer is the only man to win it more than twice. He took the title five times between 1960 and 1973!
Rahm is now the warm favourite to win his second Farmers Insurance Open this week and his fourth event in five starts following victories in the DP World Tour Championship, the Sentry Tournament of Champions and the American Express. He was also eighth at the Hero World Challenge in December.
He did look tired after Sunday's fourth round and it's an early start at Torrey Pines with the event kicking off on Wednesday.
Over on the DP World Tour, Victor Perez and co will move from Abu Dhabi to Dubai for the Dubai desert Classic, which I've previewed here.
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