David GonzalezThere are easier ways to collect a first professional victory than beginning Sunday with a lead, spending several hours trying not to think about the lead, and doing all of it in the sweltering heat of Abu Dhabi.
Liam Nolan managed it rather well.
The 26-year-old Irishman closed with a five-under-par 65 at Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club to win the Abu Dhabi Challenge by four shots, finishing the week at 21 under par ahead of Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen.
More importantly for the weeks ahead, the victory sends Nolan 31 places up the Road to Mallorca to 12th. One excellent weekend has therefore done considerably more than furnish the Galway man with his first professional trophy. It has put a DP World Tour card firmly within reach.
“This feels absolutely mental,” Nolan said.
That seems a perfectly reasonable assessment.
Nolan turns a lead into a proper statement
Holding a two-shot advantage overnight is one of golf’s less relaxing privileges. The scoreboard says you are winning. The brain, naturally, begins compiling an exhaustive catalogue of ways in which you might stop.
“Everything from what’s the worse that can happen to what’s the best that can happen is running through your head all the time.
“A four-shot lead, while it might look good, it’s nothing. It felt like to me like it was nothing. The mind was racing a little bit, but I played really well today and a bit more conservative in places.”
His golf suggested considerably less turmoil than his head apparently contained.
Nolan made his first birdie at the drivable par-four fourth, parred the fifth and then reeled off three straight gains. The most eye-catching arrived at the eighth, where a lengthy putt disappeared to send him to the turn four under for the round.
This was no Sunday retreat behind a lead. Nolan was making everyone else chase harder.
Pulkkanen applies pressure — and Nolan answers
Pulkkanen, himself playing for valuable Road to Mallorca ground, reduced the margin with a birdie at the 12th.
Nolan’s response came immediately.
A precise approach at the 13th set up another birdie and restored his momentum, taking him to 21 under. It was the sort of answer leaders rather enjoy giving: somebody applies pressure, and the lead simply stretches again.
The only blemish of Nolan’s entire weekend came with a dropped shot at the 16th. By then, the equation remained comfortably in his favour.
A par save at the 17th proved particularly important to him. It maintained a four-shot cushion heading to the last and finally allowed the finish to feel less like an examination.
“The par putt on 17 gave me the four-shot cushion coming down the last. If I’d missed that there would have been a little bit to do. When that went in, I felt like I could relax.”
He still had one birdie left.
Nolan reached the par-five 18th in regulation and rolled in the putt to complete his 65, signing off a maiden victory in suitable fashion rather than merely protecting it.
A first professional win shared with an old friend
The final walk carried another significance.
Alongside Nolan was his caddie Sean, a friend of 12 years and his companion for every tournament of his professional career.
“After the tee shot on 18, I was still a bit nervous but once I’d hit my second shot, I allowed myself to relax a little bit,” Nolan said.
“I had a nice chat with Sean coming up the fairway which was cool. He’s been my friend for 12 years, so this is as cool as it’s got for us so far.
“We’ve done every professional tournament together, so this is as much his victory as it is mine. It’s our win. It’s so special to have a friend out there that you know so well.”
Professional golf has an abundance of solitary language — your card, your score, your ranking — but Nolan was in no mood to make this one singular.
The Road to Mallorca suddenly looks rather different
The timing could scarcely be better.
Nolan is in his second full HotelPlanner Tour season and now sits 12th on the Road to Mallorca, inside the promotion positions with back-to-back events in China followed by the Grand Final later in the month.
The top 15 earn DP World Tour cards.
Nolan was also in the promotion chase last season, but his immediate priority in Al Ain was understandably less mathematical.
“It sounds great [going to the Grand Final],” he said.
“You can’t have a chance to get to the DP World Tour if you’re not in the Grand Final. I’m probably thinking more about this win right now than the Rankings.
“I will find some time to celebrate tonight and decompress a little bit.”
Pulkkanen’s outright second place on 17 under moved the Finn seven places to sixth in the Rankings, strengthening his own promotion position.
Italy’s Matteo Cristoni finished third at 16 under, while Belgium’s Matthis Besard and France’s Bastien Amat shared fourth one shot further back.
The top five on the Road to Mallorca remained unchanged, with Sweden’s Christofer Blomstrand leading South African MJ Daffue.
Next comes the Hainan Open in China from 8–11 October. Nolan will arrive there with rather more than ranking points to his name.
He now knows exactly what finishing the job feels like.
