Final Round – European Tour – Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship – Abh Dhabi Golf Club –Rock takes down Woods, McIlroy for victoryUnited Arab Emirates –

The underdog outlasts the kid and the legend to win the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and claim the Falcon Trophy.

Calm, cool and collected described England’s Robert Rock throughout the final round Sunday in the United Arab Emirates. Tied for the 54-hole lead, Rock handled the final-round pressure of playing with Tiger Woods and held off the last two U.S. Open champions — Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

Rock, ranked No. 117 in the Official World Golf Rankings coming into this week, carded a 2-under-70 (including a bogey on the 72nd hole) to finish 13-under and beat McIlroy by a shot and Woods, McDowell and Thomas Bjorn by two.

Rock’s victory marked his second European Tour title, but the Abu Dhabi triumph is his biggest. The 34-year-old won the BMW Italian Open last year. Prior to winning here, he was T-9 at the Joburg Open and T-12 at the Volvo Golf Champions.

Woods didn't look comfortable Sunday, couldn't pull the triggerWoods struggled to find fairways and couldn’t mount a back-nine charge shooting 1-over-37 on the closing nine without a birdie. For Woods, a victory would have jumped him close to the Top 10 in the rankings and served notice of his complete return to the top of the game.

A crucial two-shot penalty in the second round turned out to cost McIlroy. He was the 18-hole leader and near the top all week, but failed to close out another big victory.

Bjorn and McDowell shot 68s for the round of the day. McDowell’s round included an ace at the par-3 12th hole en route to a back-nine 31.

Other Golf news:

  • Kyle Stanley holds a five-shot advantage heading into the final round Sunday of the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Club in La Jolla, California.
  • The European Tour returns to action next week at the CommercialBank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy. Bjorn is defending champion.
  • Among the pre-tournament favorites in Abu Dhabi, Lee Westwood and Charl Schwartzel finished T-17 at 6-under overall. World No. 1 Luke Donald — making his 2012 debut — failed to break 70 and ended up T-48. Although he is playing the same manufacturer, Donald put a new set of irons in the bag this week.
  • Peter Hanson, playing with Woods and Rock in the final group, shot 78 to tumble out of the Top 30.

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