Top indian

Dubai Desert Classic: Top Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma played solidly on a course that had a challenging rough and penalised small error, as he came up with his best-ever finish of tied-16 (T16) in the Dubai Desert Classic here.

Sharma shot a 2-under 70 and like his earlier rounds, it could have been a little better. He finished with 72-71-70-70 for a 5-under total that gave him his best finish at T-16 in the Dubai Desert Classic. His best in six previous starts was T-22 in 2021.

Rory McIlroy (70) stood rock steady over the final nine as his main rivals Adrian Meronk (71) and Cameron Young (74) rose and fell over the final round as the World No. 2 maintained his love affair with the Dubai Desert Classic as he successfully defended the title and won it for a record fourth time eclipsing the previous best of three by Ernie Els.