{"id":274990,"date":"2025-11-10T08:02:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T08:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/274990\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T08:02:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T08:02:20","slug":"abu-dhabi-hsbc-championship-aaron-rai-wins-dramatic-play-off-against-tommy-fleetwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/274990\/","title":{"rendered":"Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship: Aaron Rai wins dramatic play-off against Tommy Fleetwood"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last time Aaron Rai had won on the DP World Tour, he had to make do with a socially distanced elbow bump with his defeated competitor on a cold evening in Scotland to toast the win.<\/p>\n

This time around he was able to envelop his dad, Amrik, in a bearhug to celebrate the biggest title of his career to date: the 2025 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.<\/p>\n

He did similar with his caddie, and even his vanquished rivals. And he got to wear a bisht to the prize-giving ceremony, presented by an Emirati receiving line, rather than the overcoat that is usually required in autumnal Scotland.<\/p>\n

Not everything had changed in the intervening five years since he won a Covid-restricted 2020 Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club, though.<\/p>\n

In fact, there were a remarkable number of similarities. Again, his victory on Yas Island on Sunday came via a play-off at the 73rd hole of a tournament around a links-land course.<\/p>\n

Even the opponent was the same. Tommy Fleetwood, the form golfer in the world<\/a>, was reminded that his niche form of kryptonite is play-offs against Aaron Rai.<\/p>\n

They duo played the final two days of the tournament in each other\u2019s company. Breasting the tape together on 25-under, they required an extra hole to split them. Rai won that with a birdie, and went home with a Falcon Trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I was walking to the scorer and recording on 18, I was aware we had played together; that was over five years ago now in the Scottish Open,\u201d Rai said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was really cool that we had the chance to play with each other again on the other side of the world in a completely different test of a course. I thought that was a really cool moment. But I didn\u2019t really think beyond that or see it in any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the two players went to sign their cards before the play-offs, even Fleetwood got a hug from Rai\u2019s dad.<\/p>\n

The new champion said he has Amrik to thank for where he is in golf, which is inside the world\u2019s top 30, and now a three-time winner on the DP World Tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t come from a sporting background or golfing background,\u201d Rai said. \u201cHe used to read books and just try to teach me how to play golf just from reading books.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t really have knowledge himself of the game. He taught me from the age of three until I was about 10 or 11; he was with me every single practice session, every single day.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, I was very fortunate, my two coaches, Piers Ward and Andy Proudman, who I’m still with now, they have been incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad has been right there alongside them, not just helping with my swing or technical about the game but being there for me on those really hard days, trying to teach me things mind-wise, trying to help me become a better person over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been incredible. There are so many things that go into even just getting to the DP World Tour. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to fathom how much support and how much time and how many things need to go your way to have these kind of opportunities. My dad played an absolutely huge role in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well as overcoming Fleetwood, Rai was forced to repel a charge from Rory McIlroy<\/a>. The world No 2 forced his way back into the tournament with an extraordinary final day round of 10-under 62.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it left him one stroke short of the play-offs, and he had to settle for a 10th top three finish at a tournament he has still never won.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched the way Aaron and Tommy played [holes 16 and 17], and they played them unbelievably well,\u201d McIlroy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to make birdies on those holes and I knew on 18, the one thing I said to Harry [Diamond, his caddie] walking off the green is \u2018At least we are going to make them earn it, no matter what happens.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I ended up one short, but it was a great day of golf, and a great way to end the week. Also, it is a great way to go into next week into Dubai, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy remains in pole position for a seventh Race to Dubai title when the season concludes with the DP World Tour Championship, starting on Thursday.<\/p>\n

SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)<\/p>\n

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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2)<\/p>\n

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COMPANY PROFILE <\/p>\n

Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi<\/p>\n

Total funding: Self funded<\/p>\n

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)<\/p>\n

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits<\/p>\n

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine<\/p>\n

Storage: 128\/256\/512GB<\/p>\n

Main camera: 12MP wide, f\/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4<\/p>\n

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f\/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25\/30\/60fps<\/p>\n

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID<\/p>\n

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight<\/p>\n

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter<\/p>\n

Price: From Dh2,099<\/p>\n

Where to apply<\/p>\n

Applicants should send their completed applications – CV, covering letter, sample(s) of your work, letter of recommendation – to Nick March, Assistant Editor in Chief at The National and UAE programme administrator for the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, by 5pm on April 30, 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please send applications to nmarch@thenational.ae<\/a> and please mark the subject line as \u201cRosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism (UAE programme application)\u201d.<\/p>\n

The local advisory board will consider all applications and will interview a short list of candidates in Abu Dhabi in June 2020. Successful candidates will be informed before July 30, 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last time Aaron Rai had won on the DP World Tour, he had to make do with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[159655,64,63,755,37179,85,156,155],"class_list":{"0":"post-274990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-abu-dhabi-golf-championship","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-golf","12":"tag-sport-team","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-standard","15":"tag-story"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}