Tournament: Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Venue: Yas Links Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Prize Fund: US$9,000,000
Race to Dubai: Tournament 41 of 42
Rolex Series: Tournament 4 of 5
DP World Tour Play-Offs: Tournament 1 of 2
Round four report
Aaron Rai claimed his second Rolex Series crown at the 2025 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship after beating Tommy Fleetwood in a dramatic play-off on Sunday.
The Englishman started the day with a one-shot lead but soon found himself two shots back following a fast start from playing partner Fleetwood.
But a run of four successive birdies on the front nine returned him to the top before Fleetwood regained control on a roller-coaster final day.
Rai produced late fireworks, though, birdieing the 16th and 17th to sit level with Fleetwood at the summit heading down the last.
And although he missed a good chance to win inside 72 holes on the 18th green, he made no mistake with his birdie putt at the first extra hole to become a three-time DP World Tour winner.
Rai, who won his first Rolex Series title at the 2020 Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, made a total of seven birdies – including four in a row from the fourth – and two bogeys in his closing 67 to reach 25 under par, while Fleetwood produced a bogey-free 66 that featured an eagle and four birdies.
Rai started the week 55th on the season-long standings, needing a big week to make sure of his spot at the DP World Tour Championship, with the leading 50 available players qualifying. He now heads to the second event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs in ninth position in the Rankings and as the Tour’s most recent winner.
Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy fired a ten-under-par 62 to sit one shot behind Fleetwood and Rai in a tie for third alongside Nicolai Højgaard. The defending champion goes into the final event of the season with a 767.02 point lead over second placed Marco Penge as he aims to top the Rankings for the seventh time.
Daniel Hillier and Richard Mansell were two shots further back on 22 under, with Nacho Elvira and Andy Sullivan at 21 under, and Penge, Angel Ayora and Robert MacIntyre rounding out the top ten at 20 under.
Player quotes
Aaron Rai: It’s hard to sum up. I was so focused, just tried to stay in the zone. It’s hard to put into words at the at the moment how this feels and how I’m going to reflect on it.
Just amazing to be stood here. Obviously, Tommy is a phenomenal player and he’s an even better person than he is a player, and that says a lot. To play with him the last two days, and to be able to be in a playoff with him was really special as well.
My caddie, Jason, was great with me. Walking down the 15th, he played a big part in just helping me through that period. It was a little bit of a shock to miss that putt.
Yeah, he just kind of helped me switch the focus and stay in the present, as cliché as that sounds, and to turn our attention to the shots ahead of us and the next few holes. He was the biggest part in that.
Any time you win on the DP World Tour, it’s a real accomplishment. The fields are strong. There’s so much work that goes into a tournament and so much work that goes into weeks away from the tournament. To win a Rolex Series event, an event the size of this tournament, this strong of a field is really special. Yeah, amazing to be here.
Obviously it’s a slightly different scenario because it’s just between two players but you still have to play a good hole regardless. It does feel different, but as much as we can stay in our process tried to do that.
It’s been an amazing year off the course, first and foremost, with getting married, it’s been a beautiful year with a lot of beautiful celebrations. And on the course, a very consistent year up until kind of Wentworth. It was great to play well at Wentworth, and obviously here to go one step further and to win this week. A great year off the course and a great year on the course and one that I’ll always remember.
Round four scores
263 A RAI (ENG) 66 64 66 67, T FLEETWOOD (ENG) 64 66 67 66,
264 R MCILROY (NIR) 68 68 66 62, N H?JGAARD (DEN) 65 67 65 67,
266 R MANSELL (ENG) 66 70 67 63, D HILLIER (NZL) 66 68 65 67,
267 A SULLIVAN (ENG) 65 67 67 68, N ELVIRA (ESP) 65 68 65 69,
268 M PENGE (ENG) 67 68 70 63, A AYORA (ESP) 69 70 66 63, R MACINTYRE (SCO) 69 68 66 65,
269 K NAKAJIMA (JPN) 65 68 68 68, S LOWRY (IRL) 64 69 68 68, R STERNE (RSA) 64 68 68 69,
270 M JORDAN (ENG) 73 64 67 66, J SMITH (ENG) 68 67 66 69,
271 J PARRY (ENG) 69 72 66 64, D BROWN (ENG) 69 69 67 66, A NOREN (SWE) 65 69 70 67, C HILL (SCO) 67 69 68 67, A DEL REY (ESP) 69 64 68 70,
272 K REITAN (NOR) 67 67 68 70,
273 R H?JGAARD (DEN) 72 69 67 65, L ?BERG (SWE) 68 69 69 67, A PAVAN (ITA) 68 70 68 67, J OLESEN (DEN) 69 65 71 68, R NEERGAARD-PETERSEN (DEN) 68 69 68 68, J SCHAPER (RSA) 68 70 67 68, L CANTER (ENG) 69 65 69 70, M COUVRA (FRA) 70 66 67 70, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 66 71 65 71,
274 F LAPORTA (ITA) 70 67 68 69, M FITZPATRICK (ENG) 67 70 68 69, M KIM (USA) 65 72 68 69, H LI (CHN) 69 65 69 71, E SMYLIE (AUS) 66 68 68 72, C SYME (SCO) 70 69 63 72,
275 G FORREST (SCO) 70 69 69 67,
276 E CHACARRA (ESP) 67 70 71 68, J GIRRBACH (SUI) 69 72 65 70,
277 A FITZPATRICK (ENG) 66 74 72 65, J LUITEN (NED) 68 71 72 66, A SADDIER (FRA) 64 73 72 68, M LINDBERG (SWE) 68 73 68 68, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 70 68 69 70, K KOBORI (NZL) 64 73 69 71, O LINDELL (FIN) 67 72 67 71, T HATTON (ENG) 66 72 64 75,
278 M ELVIRA (ESP) 69 73 71 65, B ROBINSON THOMPSON (ENG) 74 68 70 66, E FERGUSON (SCO) 72 71 69 66, J DEAN (ENG) 69 72 70 67, U COUSSAUD (FRA) 67 73 68 70, J VEERMAN (USA) 71 71 66 70, P REED (USA) 71 68 66 73,
279 R GERARD (USA) 71 69 70 69, M SCHNEIDER (GER) 72 68 70 69, J CAMPILLO (ESP) 71 71 66 71,
280 N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 65 70 75 70,
281 D VAN DRIEL (NED) 72 68 69 72,
282 S NORRIS (RSA) 73 71 69 69,
283 T LAWRENCE (RSA) 68 72 71 72, D NAIDOO (RSA) 74 65 71 73, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 72 68 70 73, R CABRERA BELLO (ESP) 69 72 68 74,
285 T MCKIBBIN (NIR) 75 69 69 72,
286 T CLEMENTS (ENG) 71 69 74 72,
287 B SCHMIDT (ENG) 72 77 71 67,
288 R JOHNSTON (USA) 77 74 68 69,
290 J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 71 75 74 70,
291 J LEE (KOR) 72 78 68 73,
294 J KO (FRA) 75 71 72 76,
