Rock beats Woods in Abu Dhabi showdown
Tiger Woods lost out to England's Robert Rock in a final round showdown at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The two players started the day in a tie for the lead and it was the little-known Rock, the world number 117, who held his nerve on the final day to collect a second European Tour victory with a closing 70 for 275, 13 under par.
Woods's sustained excellence over the first three days at the demanding Abu Dhabi Golf Club indicated the 14-times major champion was back to his best but his game unravelled on Sunday as he faded to a 72 for 277.
World number three Rory McIlroy (69) finished second on 276 while Woods had to settle for a share of third spot with former US Open champion Graeme McDowell (68), who had a hole-in-one at the 12th, and Dane Thomas Bjorn (68).
The bearded Rock, who will rise to around world number 60, was almost overcome with emotion after landing the Falcon Trophy and the first prize of 347,024 euros.
"I really can't believe I did that today," said the 34-year-old Englishman after another hot day in the desert. "It is such an amazing feeling.
"I was just happy to be playing alongside Tiger, that was a special honour in itself. Early on I played really well and I surprised myself.
"I hit some good shots and I began to tell myself, 'Why not (go and win it)?'. I've worked very hard at my game over the last few years but I didn't think this would ever happen," added Rock after eclipsing a world-class field.
Woods, seeking a 96th tournament victory, wore his trademark final-day red shirt and was the clear favourite to win at the start of the round.
However, the pinpoint accuracy he showed with his irons and woods earlier in the event suddenly gave way to a succession of errors as he reached only one green in regulation in the opening eight holes.
The 36-year-old American gritted his teeth, producing a scrambling effort on and around the greens just to stay in contention for his first victory in a full-field event for more than two years.
"I had a chance to win the tournament and I didn't do it," said Woods. "I was just a touch off today.
"Some of my shots went a bit further than I thought they would. A couple of my three-woods went about 320 yards and a couple of my eight-irons went about 180.
"Those are numbers I don't normally hit so I am going to have to go away, reassess and figure that out. I putted beautifully but I just didn't give myself enough looks at birdies," added Woods.
"Robert played great today. He was solid and consistent and didn't do anything wrong."
The Englishman, backed by the occasional cry of 'Rocky, Rocky' from the galleries, came close to throwing the title away with a nerve-jangling effort at the par-five 18th.
Italian Open champion Rock smashed a wayward drive into the desert scrub and contemplated a risky recovery even though his ball was in sand and close to a cactus bush.
Taking heed of some wise words from his caddie, Rock eventually decided discretion was the better part of valour and went back 50 yards to the fairway under penalty.
He also fluffed his fourth, a chip in front of the green, but two putts from 30 feet for a bogey six were enough to clinch the title.
Rock said partner Woods had been the perfect playing companion.
"Tiger's a great guy," he added. "He was brilliant to play with and was fantastic to me the whole way round."
It was a case of so near yet so far for McIlroy, with the US Open champion regretting his moment of madness in Friday's second round when he incurred a two-shot penalty for using his hand to brush away sand on the fringe of the ninth green.
Comment 71 - 90 of 90
'Arold. It's good they don't want millions for surfing coz they ain't gonna get it. If you love surfing and hate Golf, I have an idea. Look at the tabbed hyperlinks at the top of the page. On the extreme right, you'll see one entitled "More", click on that and in the subsequent drop-down menu, click the word "surfing". Knock yourself out....... Happy days.
i smell a tiger comeback
Just wondering if this is a golf forum or a geography lesson?
Shows the sort of small minded bickering that seems to be geeting more and more common on these pages.
Arold.............As I said, joyless. And apparently very angry and aggressive too for some reason. Your arrogance is stupefying. Sorry, I didn't realise that I wasn't allowed to mention sports that you hadn't. You evidently have the monopoly on that. There's no point complaining about how surfers etc end up. They do so by their own choice. No one made them take up their sport. Don't know why I've bothered replying to you 'cos obviously you're right and everyone else is wrong. Lighten up mate.
I am glad I was in the British Army. We had English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish from North and South,also
Channel Islanders. The word British covered the lot for us and it still does for me. United we stood and divided
we will fall. MGD
Well done Robert Rock, lets hope this will inspire you to greater things. We need some more Brits beating the yanks.
Benny....did you fart that statement ? "Thank God that Horrible black didnt win" ? You are actually using praising God in a racist statement. All men are made equal by God are you for real ? Ignorance is your biggest problem, why get mad at a man because of the colour of his skin. This so called Horrible black is one if the richest men and most successfull man in the world. i would advise you to remove your post because you are saying to the world that you are jealous, unGodly and obviously ignorant. In all my life i have never seen a white man before. There is no single white man on the planet, we have men with skin tones that do not have colour. Pale would be the best way to describe Caucasians..Try to grow up and learn a thing or two. Hitler was Caucasion was he not...because he lives 30 million died. Does that mean all Caucasians are killers ? Please learn more before you fart out loud.
br hogg. you wont apologise, you don't need to. I'll do that to you for you were indeed just correcting.
McCloskey, Great Britain is England Scotland and Wales. Doesn't include N, Ireland. N. Ireland is part of the UK, hence The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that brings them together. To say Ireland is both North and South is accademic. There is no Nation of Ireland. it is two separate entities. Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland otherwise Eire.
Been there , done it Bobby, that's why I dumped it. Can believe your club might be ok but as you said, it's social, There's a plethora of toff clubs using too much land. The local council course was good enough for me.
Russ, the silly juvenile yawn is on you. Where did I say Into football? Talking golf aren't we, stupid. Sore there are clubs that aren't snobbish , read again, I said CREATED. There are more working man clubs but I was drawing attention to a vast amount of clubs which make themselves exclusive. As for believing what everyone tells me, where'd you get that from Did I quote anybody? That's from my own experience, Sorry if it upsets you to know that it comes from my own knowledge which is probably a darn sight better than yours in your own game. Sport it isn't . Who's the naive one. You've said next to nothing that relates to my comment, just asumed a lot of bull s.
Dizzy you are pathetic about surfers and sailore, they were just examples. Doesn't matter if it's a minority sport. It is so because its too bl***y hard for most of you especially golfers. Surfing eventually takes your knees away, causes part if the ear to require drilling out . When you wipe out it's often with 25 toons and more of water grinding you ino the sea bed. To sail a Yacht in a force 8 will take every bit of energy ot of you in minutes. Nobody wacthes surfing here because there's next to no surf, unlike the US and Hawaii where there is a 30 foot wave called the wall. That is just the height of the face, underneath and behind is enough water to break a dam so fall under it and that's your lot. You clearly haven't a clue waht's involved. They don't want millions for it, there's a life that goes with it and it's not poncing around in silly dudes having someone carry your surfboard for ya. Caddies carrying their kit, laughable. they make trollies that the golfer can pull if he wants. yeah I know a caddy is more than a club carrier. probably know more about your golf than you do. That#s how I know it's soft and hardly a sport. It's a game.
Hilarious photo
Looks like their posing for a gay contact magazine! lol
@ 78 brhogg86: I am also chuffed for Robert Rock; he played really well today and proved his worth. Hope he can get enough money to get into the Master, and enough point for the Ryder Cup; I think he would be another good asset to join the list of many.
Bobby your comment is priceless and factual made me laugh anyways thanks. By the way Well done again to the majorly underrated englishman Robert Rock.
Never liked Woods.
Perhaps its all a wind-up, however, for the non-Europeans, its United Kingom of Great Britain (England, Scotland & Wales) and Northern Ireland (its on your passport :)).
Hello fellow Northern Irish Man, as you should know nobody agrees over this, not trying to start an arguement but thats the facts that I have always grown up with. Sorry if i insulted you by saying have you ever heard of the good friday agreement as obviously being from northern Ireland you would know that aswel as I do.
I honestly think Rory M.is the best in the world right now ( after me of course )
Great Britain is Britain there the same thing. Thats why it says on yes the passport the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Its the UK. Northern Ireland is part of both the UK and Ireland. You can get both passports, have ya never heard of the good friday agreement?
and by the way I'm from Norn Iron too
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