ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – It was another near miss for Rory McIlroy at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and to compound that, he endured a world ranking whiff on Sunday.
McIlroy eagled the par-5 18th hole to move to 14 under par, within a stroke at the time of eventual champion Rickie Fowler, but it wasn’t enough, with the Northern Irishman finishing tied for third to add to his four runner-up showings in Abu Dhabi.
“Not quite what I wanted,” said McIlroy, who was making his 2016 debut this week. “It seems like this could be the tournament that I just can’t quite master. But it’s been good. I’ve played a lot of good golf here at this golf course in Abu Dhabi.”
Adding insult to injury, Thomas Pieters birdied the last hole to take solo second place at 15 under par. If McIlroy would have tied for second place with no more than two other players he would have earned enough world ranking points to overtake Jason Day at second in the rankings.
