Rickie Fowler targets further success following Abu Dhabi win

But who really would have thought it would be Rickie Fowler after he’d been overshadowed by both Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy in Thursday’s opening round of the HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship? From drifting out to two under par at one stage on Friday, he rallied to close in a tie for fifth place on 11 under par but admitted afterwards that he was “beat up, mentally and physically”, having played in South Korea, China, Australia, Bahamas, Hawaii and now Abu Dhabi since October.

“They are the three best or highest-ranked players in the world”, Fowler said at his press conference after the win.

Fowler, who held a two-stroke lead after three rounds, shot a 3-under 69 for 16-under 272 overall. Pieters (67) was runnerup, with fast-finishing Rory McIlroy (68) and Henrik Stenson (67) tied for third.

Now, Fowler has four wins in impressive fields in nine months, starting with The Players last May, continuing with the Scottish Open, Deutsche Bank Championship and, now in Abu Dhabi.

Fowler is expected to climb to No. 4 in the world rankings Monday, behind only Spieth, Jason Day and McIlroy.

“I’ve heard from quite a few people that it’s arguably the best city in that part of the world, very clean, very fun to go to, good food, great golf course”.

“The knee is holding up pretty good”, he said. “I think I mentioned through the summer at some point, I said I was a sneaky fourth”.

“I felt like we were off this week, I didn’t make anything, I didn’t get in a rhythm, and when I did have chances, they just wouldn’t go in”.

Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy dominated the headlines in the week leading up to the European Tour event, but Fowler topped McIlroy by two and Spieth by five.

McIlroy, who has now finished runner-up four times and third once in the last six years in Abu Dhabi, was left to rue a poor finish to his third round and the start of the fourth. We’re not 100 per cent. It shows in certain places and this week, the first day I was striping it. Since then I was a little weak with everything and my decision-making was a little off.

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Jason Dufner won the CareerBuilder Challenge with a par on the second hole of a playoff Sunday, taking advantage of David Lingmerth’s shot off the rocks that bounced into the water. The American kept his nerve to hole a par putt for victory.

All three started their final round at the 10th, and British Masters champion Fitzpatrick had four birdies in his “outward” nine, which included three in a row from the 16th.

“It was obviously 20 feet longer than I wanted, ” Waldorf said.

A run of eight straight pars allowed the chasing pack – led initially by playing partner Pieters – to get within a shot again.

“To come over here, my first full-field event of the 2016 season, this is a great way to start”, Fowler said in a TV interview, adding the potent line-up had made his win extra special.

Fowler had never previously won a tournament in the first four months of a year. I’m excited for rest. He finished T5 and sometimes these things happen when you’re the No. 1 golfer on the planet.

“I didn’t do much wrong today”.