Spain's Alejandro Del Rey romped to a first DP World Tour title on Sunday, carding a bogey-free final round 66 to win the 2025 Ras Al Khaimah Championship by four strokes on 22-under from England's Marcus Armitage.
Del Rey began the day two strokes ahead of his nearest rival and made the hottest of starts to open up a five-shot advantage after only five holes courtesy of three early birdies.
The Englishman cut the gap to three just before the turn, but an inspired birdie chip-in on the par-3 11th from Del Rey appeared to suggest it was always going to be the 26-year-old's name on the trophy.
Consecutive birdies on 12 and 13 moved Del Rey's lead to six shots, only for Armitage to reply on the 14th with a gain of his own. But, try as he might, the 37-year-old could not warm up his putter sufficiently on a day of good scoring at Al Hamra.
Armitage birdied the last to reduce the gap by one more, but Del Rey never looked in any danger as he confidently strode towards a maiden DP World Tour crown in his 70th start. The Spaniard's success was defined by his razor-sharp short game, which helped him go bogey-free across the entire weekend.
The moment Alejandro Del Rey claimed his first ever DP World Tour title 😍#RAKGolfChamps pic.twitter.com/K6QKDQmktGJanuary 26, 2025
Discussing his win immediately after the final putt had dropped, Del Rey said: "It's amazing because it's basically what I work for.
"I got to a point last year where I just felt like I wasn't having that much fun on the golf course because for me, playing for 20th, 30th place wasn't that meaningful at that point.
"I just worked really hard since then because I just didn't want to be in that position much longer. And I feel like I've played many years with a lot of friends that have won out here and I knew I could do it but it just wasn't showing up. I'm just grateful and I'm very happy that this finally came.
"I've always felt about myself that I'm a great closer of golf tournaments. It just felt great today, felt very natural and very easy."
Armitage's brave pursuit of the champion helped him wrap up second place on his own, three strokes clear of a rampant David Puig in third on 15-under and Jason Scrivener in fourth on 14-under.
Joe Dean, Ivan Cantero and Sebastian Soderberg shared fifth place on 12-under while Patrick Reed, Alexander Bjork, Scott Jamieson, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Hamish Brown rounded out the top-10 a shot further back.
