Englishman Justin Rose claimed the 2016 Olympic Men’s Golf gold medal with a two-shot victory after an enthralling final round against Sweden's Henrik Stenson, and thus, the season-ending DP World Tour Championship will welcome the gold and silver Olympic medalists at Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai from November 17-20.
After 17 holes, Rose and Stenson were tied on 15 under par but The Open Championship winner bogeyed his effort, and Rose managed to take advantage, making a birdie putt to secure the gold to become the first golfer to win the Olympic medal since Canada's George Lyon in the 1904 Games in St. Louis, United States.
After hitting an historic hole-in-one, the first since golf's inclusion in the Olympics, Rose shot four birdies and just one bogey on his outward nine.
Stenson was in a bullish mood, however, as he sunk four birdies in his first 10 holes which made him edge closer to the leader.
A play-off was on the cards as Rose dropped a shot on the 13th to be tied with Stenson, but the Brit maintained his composure on the par-five last, as he chipped his approach to two feet from the hole, while Stenson's spun away to around 20 feet.
The Swede then raced his birdie putt eight feet past the hole and missed the return to allow Rose the luxury of two putts for victory. He needed just the one.
Stenson finished as runner-up with 14 under par, claiming the silver medal, while USA's Matt Kuchar claimed bronze with a final round of 8-under 63 to finish at 13-under par.
With this win, Rose moved from 12th to ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking, while Stenson moved from fifth to fourth.
Rose has competed in the DP World Tour Championship five times, finishing tied-second in 2014 alongside Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and two shots behind Stenson.
He came close to winning in 2012 as he set a course record on the Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, with a score of 62 but finished two shots back of champion McIlroy.
Stenson is a fans’ favourite at the DP World Tour Championship after enjoying success in the 2013 and 2014 event. The 40 year old resided in Dubai for a number of years and will be excited about competing in this tournament again in 13 weeks time.
28 out of the 60 Olympic Men’s Golf entries have competed in previous DP World Tour Championships, while 12 of the top 14 are all comfortably in the top 60 in the Race to Dubai rankings, with the cut-off date for qualification on Sunday November 13, at the conclusion of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa.
England's Danny Willett remains on top of the Race to Dubai rankings, with a total of 3,168,940 points, whilst 2013 and 2014 DP World Tour Championship winner Sweden’s Stenson is in second with 3,130,447 points.
Reigning Race to Dubai champion Ireland’s McIlroy sits in third place with 2,487,204 points. Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello is in fourth with a total of 1,804,17 8points and South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen rounds up the top five with a season-total of 1,693,329.
