- Mentally, it was one of my toughest rounds and I had to forget who was on the leaderboard, says McIlroy after the victory, which brought 16 million kroner.

Reed was sitting in the clubhouse waiting for McIllroy to finish.

What looked like a special game turned out to be a perfect closing putt by McIlroy.

When McIlroy made his putt, the American got up from a chair and walked away.

- It means a lot, a fight all day and all week, McIlroy says to the DP World Tour, which organizes the European Tour after the win in the season debut.

The players were followed by results on the final day of the European Tour competition in a sunny Dubai, delayed a day by rain.

McIlroy went in the lead ball while Reed went in the ball ten minutes ahead.

McIlroy close to hitting the water on the last hole

Going into the final hole, McIlroy led by one stroke ahead of Reed, who made an easy birdie after putting a long eagle putt close.

At the same time, McIlroy was close to hitting his tee shot in water but the ball was caught by a grass edge a couple of centimeters from a drop and an extra stroke.

It was before this competition last time that McIlroy refused to shake Reed's hand when he came to greet him at the driving range.

Reed then flipped a peg towards McIlroy who didn't even notice - but the sequence was caught on video and became a talking point.

- It's a shame because we've had a good relationship before.

But if he's going to act like an immature child, he might as well be treated like one, Reed said.

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Rory McIlroy refused to shake hands with Patrick Reed.

Photo: Twitter/Bildbyrån

Stenson climbed from 53rd to eighth after 64 strokes

The basis of the disagreement between the former good friends is that Reed has signed on for the Saudi-funded LIV tour while McIlroy is against the upstart.

Behind the tight battle, Henrik Stenson, who also plays on the LIV tour, climbed significantly after a round of 64 strokes, the best result of the day.

The Swede climbed 45 places and finished eighth, a place he shared with Marcus Kinhult.