Paul Waring with his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship trophy at the Yas Links on Sunday. It was the Englishman’s first title since 2018 and his second career win. Image courtesy DP World Tour/X. 
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Paul Waring with his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship trophy at the Yas Links on Sunday. It was the Englishman’s first title since 2018 and his second career win. Image courtesy DP World Tour/X. England’s Paul Waring sealed his second DP World (European) Tour title, ending a six-year-long barren run, at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship by two strokes from hard-charging countryman Tyrrell Hatton on Sunday.
Waring, 39, fired a course record 11 under par 61 for a five-shot advantage on Friday at Yas Links but opened the door on Saturday with a 73 that saw his lead cut to one. On Sunday, however, Waring hung on gamely, weathering challenges from Hatton, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry for a $1.53 million payout.
The result also strengthened his chances of a top 10 finish in the rankings and a PGA Tour card for the 2025 season. Waring had cards of 64, 61, 73 and 66 to total 24 under par 264 while Hatton (64-68-70-64) finished on 22 under 266. McIlroy (67-67-69-64) shared third place with England’s Matt Wallace (67-65-72-63) and Thorbjorn Olesen ((63-67-71-66) on 21 under 267s.
India’s Shubhankar Sharma took a share of 32nd place with cards of 71, 73, 66 and 65.
At one point on Sunday, Waring saw Hatton draw level but responded with a 40-foot birdie on hole 17 and closed it out with another to end a wait that stretched back to the Nordea Masters in 2018 for his second tour win.
“It just means so much to so many other things that come with that win,” Waring, who climbs to fifth in the Race to Dubai Rankings, said on the DP World Tour website. “That said, early in the week, to actually keep control of myself in the way that I did today I'm really proud of myself, and (caddie) Alex (Evans) was absolutely amazing.
“Playing partner was amazing, Shane (Lowry) was great as was Niklas (Norgaard). I'm a bit taken aback right now. I'm not that emotional on golf courses. I tend not to fist-pump and I tend not to get up and down, and I tend to stay quite steady.
“It was actually the putt on 15, the par save. It was only five feet but it was such a solid putt. It just gave me so much confidence coming in that if I just keep hitting putts like that I'll be fine. The one on 17, I could just see it tracking in the whole way, and just knew I was going to hole it. As soon as it left the blade, I knew it was in. So yeah, it was a big moment. Big, big moment.
“I thought the second shot into 18 was absolutely perfect. To see it go long was, 'right, I've still got business, still got stuff to do'.
“So got my head back on. I'll be honest, legs were shaking a little bit over that last putt. I just wanted to make sure that nothing else could happen and great to roll that one in on the last as well.
“I don't want to sound over the top or anything but I felt like my golf game has been in such a good place over the last year. Just haven't put it all together. And then this week arrives and you know what, a week for it all to come together, putting nicely, approach play was great, great off the tee. It's nice to put it all together and get a tournament like this.”
Race to Dubai Rankings leader McIlroy put some early pressure on with four birdies on his first six holes but Waring stayed ahead with two gained strokes of his own and a par save. He then saw playing partner Lowry make a run before
Hatton caught him to set the clubhouse target at 22 under with a brace of closing birdies.
Waring though converted from 40 feet on 17 and then got up and down to shut the door.
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