Rory McIlroy Out-Duels Rival Patrick Reed in Dubai as LIV Golfer Stirs More Controversy

Despite controversy over a marked ball that landed in a tree, Patrick Reed was unable to top rival Rory McIlroy at the Dubai Desert Classic on Monday morning.

The No. 1 golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking won a DP World Tour event for the first time in nearly four years after sinking a birdie putt on No. 18 to beat Reed by one stroke at the Dubai Desert Classic.

The rivals caused headlines over Reed flicking a tee at McIlroy after the latter gave him the cold shoulder on the range last week. The two were not in the same pairing for Monday’s final round because Reed charged from behind to challenge the world’s top-ranked golfer, but McIlroy prevailed.

Never in doubt 🙌@McIlroyRory claims his first Rolex Series victory.#HeroDDC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/GVylbKzHVD

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 30, 2023

You can tell from his reaction to the winning putt that outdueling Reed meant a lot to McIlroy, as the two have been at the forefront of the PGA Tour/DP World Tour vs. LIV Golf feud for much of the past year. McIlroy didn’t come right out and say so, but he alluded to it in post-match comments.

“I think mentally today was probably one of the toughest rounds I’ve ever had to play because it would be really easy to let your emotions get in the way. I had to really focus on concentrating on myself,” McIlroy explained.

“Forget who was up there on the leaderboard and I did that really really well. I feel like I showed a lot of mental strength out there today and again, it’s something to build on for the rest of the year. I’m going to enjoy this, this is probably sweeter than it should or needs to be.”

For Reed, he can’t seem to escape controversy. On Saturday, there were questions on whether a ball he found in the trees was actually his.

Wow wrong tree ?! Maybe optical illusion 😂 https://t.co/VlCCxZoqsR

— Matthieu Pavon (@mattpavon) January 29, 2023

In response to Pavon’s tweet, fellow DP World Tour golfer Mike Lorenzo-Vera said of Reed, “The guy does not stop!”

The DP World Tour released a statement saying that Reed correctly identified his golf ball, but it sounds like this could’ve been a case of “The Boy Who Cries Wolf,” as Reed clearly isn’t receiving the benefit of the doubt from his peers.

Cover Image via Twitter