With some of the best golfers on the planet lurking on the leaderboard, Paul Waring, the 229th-ranked player in the world, emerged victorious in Abu Dhabi.
He carded a 6-under 66 on Sunday to finish at 24-under overall, two strokes ahead of his fellow countryman Tyrrell Hatton. Rory McIlroy, Matt Wallace, and Thorbjørn Olesen finished at 21-under. Yet, despite so many household names looking to de-throne him from the top, the Englishman called his final round “quite an easy day, really.”
“To actually keep control of myself in the way that I did today, I’m really proud of myself,” Warring added after his win.
Through 36 holes, Waring sat atop the leaderboard at 19-under par, which set a new DP World Tour scoring record for the midway point. He held a five-shot lead on Friday, but that dwindled down to a single stroke after Saturday’s third round, in which he carded a 1-over 73. The pressure of playing in such a prestigious event on the DP World Tour, coupled with trying to fend off a star-studded field, clearly got to him.
But that pressure subsided on Sunday, especially down the stretch, when he birdied the 17th and 18th holes to seal the deal. His par-breaker on the penultimate hole, a 204-yard par-3, came via a 40-foot bomb. That broke his tie with Hatton, who shot an 8-under 64 on Sunday to finish at 22-under.
“It’s my second win. I’ve been knocking on the door a few times. I had a few seconds. I’ve been in and around a few times. To get over the line again is fantastic, and to control it the way I have as well, especially today. I thought I might have let it slip yesterday,” Waring said.
“But to keep a lead [on Saturday with] the way I was playing, I knew I wouldn’t have two days in a row playing like that, and today I always felt—I felt like I had another gear I needed. I was hitting into the middle of a lot of greens. Not taking too much on.”
He played under control, making six birdies to zero bogies.
Better yet, Waring’s win vaults him up to fifth in the Race to Dubai standings. He increased his positioning by 43 spots and now looks destined to secure one of the 10 PGA Tour cards up for grabs. The top 10 finishers in the Race to Dubai standings—not otherwise exempt—earn PGA Tour membership for the following season.
“It’s going to be a long way to travel, a long commute over to America,” Warring said.
“But I’m looking forward to that. It’s a new challenge. I don’t know if that’s the case. Absolutely made up.”
The win also gives the 39-year-old a spot in next year’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush. His last major start came at the 2021 Open at Royal St. George’s, where he missed the cut. But he did make the weekend in 2019, the last time Portrush hosted golf’s oldest major. Warring tied for 63rd that week.
Nevertheless, Warring cannot believe he got the job done on Sunday, a massive boost for his long—and at times difficult—career.
“It just hasn’t sunk in yet,” Warring said.
“I still think I’ve got to go and do something else or go play another hole or something because I kind of never let myself think that I was over the line at any point. I always knew there was a job to be done and work to be done as I was playing. So it hasn’t quite hit me yet.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
