Jamie Donaldson wins in Abu Dhabi

Jamie Donaldson wins in Abu Dhabi: After all the hype, disappointment and the inevitability, then came the drama.

As happens many times in Golf someone takes the title coming from a position that was not considered to be in the ballpark. Similarly to last year with Robert Rock, it was Jamie Donaldson who took the honor. The 37-year-old Welshman who’s the best finish here has been 11th, held his nerve after a shaky last hole to lift the Falcon Trophy from Justin Rose.

At the start and during the early rounds of the tournament Justin Rose emerged as the one to beat, his impressive manner both on and off the course made him a firm favorite to take the Flacon Trophy, but it was not to be.

I followed Rose around the back 9 yesterday and he must feel fairly disappointed not be grasping that Falcon right now. It is very early in the season of course and to come here with this field and win would have really started the year off with a bang. The World number 4 did not give himself enough chances to score today and he made a few small mistakes along the way. It turned out that the drop shot on the 16th was the key to him potentially not winning or forcing the playoff.

Little did we know at the time that Jamie Donaldson was going to drop a shot on the last to go -14. As the group came up the 18th Rose left himself a testing putt to tie for a playoff, everyone stood silently as Rose stepped up. The drama came to an amazing climax as the putt of Rose lipped out of the hole to deny the Englishman the chance to take the game to that elusive playoff.
It was great theatre and the Rory and Tiger show was long forgotten as one of the closest Abu Dhabi finishes came to an end, well done Donaldson.

Jamie Donaldson said after, that when he walked off the 18th hole he was annoyed with himself and that he was setting his mind for a playoff, I think we all were, Jamie.
Donaldson also called the course “brutal” on the first couple of days when the wind was blowing hard. Well as brutal as it was he kept on going and claimed his second title of the season and will return to the UAE at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Could he do the double?

The event overall seemed to go well again for all parties concerned. There was a good mix of people in a large range of age groups and after speaking with Chris Card earlier in the day who is the group general manager of Abu Dhabi Golf Club and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, things are moving forward nicely. 
This is the first event that Chris has overseen and he is already planning ahead with changes in layout for the spectators to accommodate even more people for 2014.

Well, it leaves me to only say that after a little lull in the middle of the event, the final round was pure drama and completely made up for any of the missing players.

Congratulations to Donaldson and it will be interesting to see if the Welshman can use this win in Dubai in a weeks time.

Editor