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It was a complete sweep for the No. 2 golfer in the world, Collin Morikawa, on Sunday in Dubai. Morikawa took the DP World Tour Championship by firing a 6-under 66 in the final round, and in doing so became the first American to win the European Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai.
Morikawa, who led the Race to Dubai coming into the week and was nearly assured of winning it going into Sunday barring something disastrous, closed like we’ve become accustomed to him closing.
A tepid start on the front nine in the final round continued an equally-tepid close to Round 3. Morikawa made just one birdie in a 23-hole stretch from the middle of Round 3 to the middle of Round 4, but he made five in his last seven holes to shoot 31 on the second nine on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. It was enough to beat Matt Fitzpatrick and Alexander Bjork by three each.
“Starting off with six pars, especially with some birdie holes, wasn’t fun,” Morikawa said. “I felt like I was hitting some good shots and I wasn’t getting the breaks I needed. The putts weren’t dropping, and I just told myself when I looked at the leaderboard after nine that I was still in there and I was still two or three back at that point and I just needed one spark.”
He got hot late, and started pouring putts in when winning time rolled around. It brought to mind his quote after the Open Championship about how he knows he’s not a great putter but he also believes he’s a great putter in situations with immense pressure. Morikawa finished in the top 15 in strokes gained putting on the week and was his usual ball-striking robot self throughout.
Despite finding a spark on the second nine, Morikawa was actually tied with Rory McIlroy with just a few holes to go, and it looked like it would come down to the end between those two. However, Morikawa put it to the floor and poured in a long birdie on No. 17 and had an easy…
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Source : cbssports
