Rory McIlroy came up shy of Aaron Rai but still managed to create history after he closed with a career low 62 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links.
McIlroy fired a sensational eight birdies and an eagle in a bogey free round to set the clubhouse target at 24-under but with Rai and Fleetwood left with three to play they found the necessary birdies to force a playoff on -25.
Fleetwood birdied the 16th while overnight leader Rai birdied 16 and 17 for rounds of 66 and 67 respectively before Rai birdied the first playoff hole to secure his second Rolex Series win and first since the 2020 Scottish Open where he also overcame Fleetwood in extra time.
“It’s hard to sum up,” said Rai who despite rolling in four birdies four birdies in a row from the 4th had lost the lead after nine courtesy of a bogey on 7. “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.”
Rai, the world number 30, had to overcome a sticky patch where he was one-over for an eight hole stretch including a missed short par putt on 14 as he lost ground on Fleetwood.
He credited his caddie for rallying him to birdie 16 and 17 and force a playoff.
“My caddie, Jason, was great. Walking down 15th — bit of a shock to the system. He was great, helped me to stay present and focused on the shots and try and finish strong. Made a really good up-and-down on 15 which really helped. Made the last putt there which certainly gave a little bit of covered. That was important. Yeah, it was nice to finish off strong the last few holes as well.”
Teeing off six shots behind Rai, McIlroy needed to run the tables and then some but an electric start of birdie, eagle raised a few eyebrows.
Four pars came before a birdie at the 7th and as he turned in 32 it looked like his race was run and a first title at this event would have to wait another year.
But the Masters champion roared into contention with five straight birdies to start a sumptuous back nine and he closed with a birdie on the last for his lowest round on the DP World Tour.
Such was the low scoring this week, Shane Lowry dropped from 8th to a share of 12th place despite a closing 68 as he finished six shots outside of the playoff on nineteen-under.
The Offaly man got the ball rolling quickly with three successive birdies to open his round but bogeys on the 5th and 8th took him out of the frame and meant his wait for a first win since 2022 would go on.
He eagled the 11th and birdied 15 to restore parity but it’s another what might have been week at Yas Links.
Tom McKibbin shared 66th place on three-under after a final round of 72.
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