Nacho Elvira said he did not feel nerves until the moment he had to close out the Dubai Invitational at the final hole, despite a thrilling final day assault by the rest of the field.
The Spaniard started the final day with a one-stroke lead at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, and finished it the same way. In between, though, some of the leading names in the sport had taken turns to fire shots at his lead.
First, as Elvira appeared to be faltering midway through his final round, the imposing figure of Rory McIlroy loomed the largest.
Despite trailing by six shots during the front nine, McIlroy assumed a share of the lead on the way in. His challenged slipped away, though, as he bogeyed the last.
By then, Shane Lowry had leapfrogged to the top of the leaderboard at 10-under par, only to double bogey the last.
The Irishman was in prime position in the middle of the fairway after his tee shot. He was heavy with his approach, though and found the bunker at the back of the green.
He thinned his recovery from there through the green and very nearly back into the water. He made a double bogey from there.
Elvira was simultaneously making birdie, meaning he just needed par at the last to claim the win. He managed it, and so secured his third title in his 323rd start on the DP World Tour.
“I've been in this position before and I feel like I've always tried to hold on to the score,” Elvira said. “And this time I knew that Shane and Rory were behind and some other good players. I felt like I wanted to push a little bit to keep going and keep being aggressive.
“Then all of a sudden I lost my way on 8 and 9, and hit a terrible shot on 10 [which was the 150th ball that had ended in the water during the course of the tournament to that point].
“I managed to make the putt and I think that was a turning point mentally and stayed patient through the rest of the round.”
Elvira had said on Saturday night that he was too experienced to suffer from nerves, but he conceded they did come towards the end.
“I had no idea Shane had bogeyed [the last] hole,” Elvira said of the tense ending. “The leaderboards are facing the other way, so I had no idea. I tried to go for it, and I was lucky enough that I had enough club to go just a little bit past the pin.
“When I turned around and I knew I had two putts to win, I find of felt more nervous to be honest. It's a good position to be in but I was just a little bit nervous. But I am very happy now.”
McIlroy’s charge might not have been quite enough to win the second edition of Invitational - and he had been runner up on its debut two years ago - but it still thrilled the galleries.
“I wasn't really focused on winning the tournament,” McIlroy said of his final day surge. “I was just trying to piece it together and make some good swings to try to hit a few more fairways, which I did for the most part.
“It would have been nice to hit the fairway at the last to give myself a chance for birdie there [but he finished with a bogey 5].
“Overall, it was a good first week back. I felt like I learned a lot of stuff about my game. I wasn't very sharp, but hopefully I'm a little bit sharper going into next week [when he bids to reclaim the Dubai Desert Classic title] than I was going into this week.”
