After the controversy he was involved in earlier in the week, it was fitting to see Rory McIlroy lift the Dubai Desert Classic trophy yesterday morning. The Holywood native had been in impressive form all week, and while he would have a few nervy moments in Monday's delayed final round, he fully deserved the victory.
Patrick Reed was the challenger that pushed him closest, with the two having had a run-in earlier in the week.
The American recently served McIlroy with a subpoena as part of his LIV Golf lawsuit, with the world no. 1 going on to ignore him on the practice range in Dubai. Reed appeared to throw a tee in his direction as a result.
Reed is hardly the most popular player around at the moment. He has consistently rubbed people up the wrong way over the course of his career, largely down to his questionable attitude. He has also been accused at bending the rule of the sport at times, with another such incident at the weekend.
During the third round in Dubai, he was accused of misidentifying his ball after it got stuck in a tree. After hitting it into the tree from his drive, rules stated that he must be able to clearly identify the ball or face taking his shot back from the tee box.
Reed got the binoculars out and said he would see the ball, although many viewers were convinced that he wasn't even looking in the right tree.
Patrick Reed identifies his ball in left of the 3 trees yet the tv camera clearly shows it going in the right hand tree?? Am I missing something pic.twitter.com/tOr3yTza14
— Michael FarrierTwist (@michaelftwist) January 29, 2023
This could well have been a decisive moment in the tournament, especially when you consider how close things were during that final round.
Rory McIlroy defends Patrick Reed against cheating accusations
Rory McIlroy is clearly not on the best of terms with Patrick Reed at the minute, but was not upset about this particular incident.
Speaking after yesterday's final round, he said that he didn't feel there was a lot to complain about on this occasion.
I felt it was fine.
If it had been anyone else in the field it would have been a non-issue, but because of certain things in the past, people bring stuff up, which is maybe unfair in some ways.
But again, it is what it is. I’ve stood and defended Patrick in some of the controversies. I don’t feel like he was trying to get any advantage.
Honest stuff from McIlroy, although it would be interesting to see if his attitude would have been different had he not won the tournament.
As for Reed, he said the rules official agreed with his assessment that he had found the ball in question.
I’ve heard about it, but really all I can say is that I looked through the binoculars, identified my golf ball and explained what my markings were to the rules official.
He looked and he identified [the ball] exactly the same way I did...
The good thing is I know who I am. All I can do is focus on my golf and focus on me. Felt like I’ve done that this week. Felt like I played great.
It always seems to come down to Rory and I. We love to put on a good show. Unfortunately, I was on the wrong end of this one. Hats off to him, he played some great golf, especially on the weekend.
It will be interesting to see how this pair reaction on the next occasion they run into each other at the next event.
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