Rory McIlroy is aiming to take his game to the next level after claiming a thrilling maiden professional victory at the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday.
The 19-year-old held his nerve to hole a three-foot putt for par at the last, sealing a final-round two-under-par 70 to finish one shot ahead of Justin Rose, who could have forced a play-off but missed a birdie putt at 18 and had to settle for a 67.
McIlroy's six-shot lead at the start of today had been whittled down to one by the time the Northern Irishman headed up the final fairway, but he kept his composure for the vital putt to secure the win.
Afterwards he was delighted to have risen 15 places to 14th in the world rankings and to second in the Race to Dubai, and he wants to continue his recent run of form in America where he will play four events before April's Masters.
"This win has definitely moved me up a step and I just want to keep getting better and better," said McIlroy.
"Your success only makes you more motivated to do better. I have become a very good player, but I still have a lot of years to progress and I just want to keep improving and hopefully one day I will be able to compete with Tiger (Woods).
"I will have to reassess my goals, but I will just go out every week and try and get myself into contention going into the back nine on Sunday and that's my goal every week."
McIlroy came close to his maiden win last year when he suffered play-off defeats at the European Masters and Hong Kong Open and it appeared to be again slipping through his young hands as five consecutive birdies around the turn were cancelled out by three straight bogeys on the back nine.
He set pulses racing as he overhit his approach to the final green into a back bunker, but he chipped out to three feet - a shot he rates as the best from the sand he has ever played.
And after watching 2007 Order of Merit winner Rose miss a 15-foot putt which would have forced a play-off, McIlroy converted his par to claim the biggest cheque of his career.
"You watch it on TV and you see guys coming down the stretch with a four- or five-shot lead and you think it's easy, but it's not," he added.
"You still have to play the shots and hole the putts. I got myself into a great position in the middle of the back nine, but Justin fought back. But it was nice to hold it together on the last and get a great up and down.
"It's definitely a burden off my shoulders.
"If I hadn't won having a six-shot lead it would have been pretty hard to take and pretty hard to come back from. But I was able to scrape in at the end. It's not about how many but how in the end.
"All these situations I have put myself in is all experience and I am gathering them all in. Obviously all the experiences I have had in the past helped me today and hopefully this experience will help me in the future."
All but three of the top 15 places were taken by Europeans, with Henrik Stenson third and Martin Kaymer, Paul Casey and Robert Karlsson tied for fourth.
Miguel Angel Jimenez finished joint seventh ahead of world number two Sergio Garcia, while new Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie was 13th alongside Alvaro Quiros and Ross Fisher.
Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Dubai Desert Classic, Emirates GC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
269 Rory McIlroy 64 68 67 70
270 Justin Rose 68 66 69 67
271 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 65 71 67
272 Paul Casey 68 68 68 68, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 65 71 71 65, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 70 67 68 67
275 Anthony Wall 70 68 68 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 70 67 66, Scott Strange (Aus) 69 71 66 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 65 68 74
276 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 66 73 67, Richard Green (Aus) 71 63 69 73
277 Ross Fisher 72 69 67 69, Colin Montgomerie 70 70 70 67, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 70 68 75 64
278 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 68 72 69, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 71 65 71, Oliver Wilson 71 68 73 66, Bradley Dredge 73 68 71 66
279 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 69 70 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 67 66 73
280 Alexander Noren (Swe) 67 71 70 72, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 69 73 70 68
282 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 71 72 68, Graeme McDowell 70 72 72 68, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 72 72 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 72 72 69, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 67 72 72, Gary Murphy 75 68 68 71, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 66 70 73 73, Mark Foster 69 74 66 73
283 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 69 72 69 73, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72 68 72 71, Simon Dyson 71 68 73 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 67 68 72 76
284 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 69 73 69 73, Gary Orr 71 70 71 72 ,Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 70 72 72 70
285 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 74 69 70 72, Mark Brown (USA) 70 73 73 69, Lee Westwood 70 70 73 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 70 71 75, Simon Wakefield 73 70 69 73
286 Brett Rumford (Aus) 73 70 72 71, Stephen Dodd 71 69 73 73 ,Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 73 68 73 72
287 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 71 73 72, Richard Finch 71 71 71 74, Alastair Forsyth 71 70 75 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 71 73 73
288 Matthew Turner 70 72 71 75, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 67 72 76 73, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 70 71 76 71
289 Darren Clarke 74 69 72 74, Graeme Storm 68 70 77 74, Paul Broadhurst 70 70 72 77
290 Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 69 71 77 73, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 74 69 73 74
291 Paul Waring 67 73 77 74
292 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 72 71 76 73, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 70 76 73, Gareth Maybin 70 70 77 75, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 72 71 74 75
293 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 72 78 72
294 Lee Slattery 69 74 76 75, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 68 77 76
296 Paul Lawrie 68 75 74 79
301 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 72 82 77
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