Elvira wins Dubai Invitational in dramatic fashion after Lowry's last-hole meltdown

[p]The Republic of Ireland veteran had begun the closing round in a tie for second, two strokes off the Spaniard, but a birdie at the 15th lifted him into the lead and the title seemingly his to lose.[/p][p]Which he somehow conspired to do in unfortunate and cruel circumstances.[/p][p]He found both the bunker and water on the 18th to finish with a double bogey, which opened the door to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/elvira-nacho/GICOA6qE/"]Elvira[/a] to claim the first European Tour win of 2026.[/p][p]The Spaniard, who had struggled early in the round, duly parred the hole for an unexpected but nonetheless welcome and important victory.[/p][p]Elvira told Sky Sports: [b]"It means the world. If you had told me on Tuesday that I was going to be winning this, I would never have believed you. It is a dream come true."[/b][/p][embed guid="dae390ef-3cd1-4715-a33d-cea328e8a42a" url="https://x.com/DPWorldTour/status/2012895253313863760?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet" social-type="twitter" /][p]Elvira finished on a 10-under par total of 274, one shot in front of New Zealander [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hillier-daniel/GMMjr9Is/"]Daniel Hillier[/a], with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lowry-shane/pAUj2FN5/"]Lowry[/a] a further shot back in a tie for third with three more players, including [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mcilroy-rory/djwanksN/"]Rory McIlroy[/a].[/p][p]McIlroy, who started the final round three shots off the lead, forced his way into contention as Elvira faltered, and briefly held a share of an increasingly crowded leaderboard.[/p][p]Lowry, bidding for his first DP World Tour title since the 2022 BMW PGA Championship, looked to have made the decisive move with a 25-foot birdie on the 15th to move to the top of the leaderboard.[/p][p]And when McIlroy pulled his birdie chance wide on the 17th, he set up a golden opportunity for his close friend.[/p][embed guid="5d9d538f-fa52-42ef-a1b1-52a6035b3b6c" url="https://x.com/DPWorldTour/status/2012887706842570994?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet" social-type="twitter" /][p]But moments after Lowry had powered his second shot on the 18th into the water, Elvira birdied the 17th to seize control.[/p][p]Hillier, whose six-under-par final round of 65 had him hoping for at least a playoff, but Elvira, who had seen his overnight lead wiped out after successive early bogeys, held firm.[/p]