Patrick Reed came out on top at the 2026 Hero Dubai Desert Classic to claim his fourth DP World Tour title.
The 35-year-old held the overnight lead on Sunday at the Emirates GC, four shots ahead of the chasing pack. But after a trying front nine, where Reed failed to maintain or stretch that advantage, holing eight pars and one dropped shot, his lead was reduced to two. Spain’s David Puig climbed the table to become his closest contender by the turn, sinking three consecutive birdies at holes 8, 9, and 10. He was briefly one shot behind the American, before Reed made his first birdie of the round at the 10th. He seemed to find his momentum from there with another birdie at the 13th, where Puig bogeyed, as Reed’s advantage returned to four shots.
The Spaniard slowly fell out of contention as he bogeyed the 15th, and Reed parred the remaining five holes to finish at 14 under and clinch the title.
Reed’s win places him within a select group of commanding champions of the Rolex Series event, whereby only twice before has a player won by more than four strokes. Fellow American Bryson DeChambeau won by seven in 2019, and South Africa’s Ernie Els won by six in 1994.
“I think the biggest thing this week that was so special is I’ve won on every tour except this one,” Reed said afterwards.
“Even though online it says I have three wins, one was a Major and two were WGC events. So they are all co-sanctioned events.
“It’s something that’s always kind of been eating at me, sitting there not actually having a win over here.
“And to come to a place where we had a chance in 2023 and allowed that one to kind of slip by, it was very important for me to come out here and play well and to have that opportunity; and to close it off means a lot to me, especially doing it here in Dubai, which I love coming to, makes it even more special.”
Reed also revealed uncertainty over his LIV Golf future admitting that an agreement had yet to be reached for the 2026 season.
“We’re still finalising the contract [with LIV],” Reed said. “We’re not complete on that yet. It’s one of those things that I don’t like to talk business and stuff while I’m playing, and so it’s like Monday through Wednesday is the only time to really talk about it.
“it’s just one of those things that, getting here this week, I knew that once Thursday got here, just focus on golf and golf only. You know, starting tonight and tomorrow, we’ll get back to talking and things like that.”
Englishman Andy Sullivan also came back from a rocky front nine to finish with back-to-back birdies to end second on 10 under. France’s Julien Guerrier settled for third on 9 under, in what was his best finish at a Rolex Series event. Puig eventually finished seven shots from the lead on 7 under in seventh alongside England’s Marcus Armitage and Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia.
What is the next event?
The next event on the DP World Tour schedule is the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship taking place between 29 January – 1 February at Royal GC in Bahrain.