This year’s Dubai Desert Classic was a harsh reminder from Tiger Woods to the rest of professional golf as to why he holds the world’s greatest player status. His mesmerising final round of 65 pipped Martin Kaymer to the title on the closing day by one shot after Ernie Els failed to make the birdie he needed coming down the last to force a play-off.

As always at The Emirates, the final day’s play was riddled with drama. But Woods’ back-nine finish of six under par, with an unforgettable final hole where he got up and down for a birdie, was a message to the world of golf that the bar is being raised once again. Woods hit a solid drive down the 18th fairway, and flew a 5-wood towards the sloping green, which caught the thick fringe area around the bunker at the back of the green. With an awkward stance, his feet in the bunker, the 32-year old delicately chipped his ball onto the downslope of the green, but instead of trickling towards the hole, the ball stopped, leaving him with a 25ft putt. Tiger then went into his familiar focus zone and, one drained putt into the centre of the cup later, the formidably dressed red and black warrior gave his usual triumphant air punch and the packed grandstands were in awe! “It was a pretty exciting final round,” smiled Woods after receiving a cheque for €283,965 “On 18 I hit a really nice drive, turned it around the corner and hit a 5-wood up there. I just flushed it. I was trying to hit a high fade in there and hold it up against the wind. I thought I hit it perfect where it was going to be just past the hole but it flew even further than I thought. “Then I’m thinking it’s a hard bunker shot, but really not that bad and I get down there and it’s not in the bunker. And then I’m thinking I could easily chip the ball in the water. You have to make your mistake short and if I leave it too short, just chip up and try to make a par, then I’m probably not going to win the tournament but see what happens. Got to the green and the putt went in.”

Woods had started the final day in joint 5th alongside five other golfers including Sergio Garcia, with Els leading by one from Henrik Stenson. But Tiger was straight into his stride with birdies on three of the first four holes. Had it been any other player, it could have been thought that his challenge was then fading but Woods eye on the title set up an exhilarating finish when he birdied the 10th to set the wheels in motion on what was to become an awe-inspiring back nine by him. Such drama, of course, is not created by one player alone. Louis Oosthuizen had set the target with a 13-under-par total after his superb final round of 65. With Els and Kaymer in the group behind Woods everything had fallen into place for that amazing finish. With Woods overtaking Oosthuizen on the clubhouse leaderboard with a 14-under-par 274, only the two men in the final group could stop Tiger winning. Kaymer needed a highly unlikely albatross to force a play-off despite birdies on 16 and 17. He made an eagle. It therefore remained that the only man who could better Tiger was the overnight leader and three-time Desert Classic champion, Els. He wanted an eagle on the 18th to win and a birdie to force a play-off. There was even more attention focused on the great South African than usual that week as he had just launched The Els Club, his new exclusive golf club within Dubai Sports City. Els had taken encouragement from the skies on the Saturday when he took the lead, by seeing the world’s largest ever golf advertising banner circle the Emirates Golf Club, bearing The Els Club name. To Ernie’s credit, he did not disappoint the galleries. He went for the eagle on 18, but the South African’s 3-wood approach to the green got caught in the wind and found the water, which so many had found before. It left him with a bogey six and a share of 3rd place with his countryman Oosthuizen.

The magic of the Classic was again in evidence. Woods took his second Dubai Desert Classic title and made his perfect start to the year: played two, won two. Can we expect more drama in 2009? Quite probably.