Sergio Garcia completes wire-to-wire win at Dubai Classic

Sergio Garcia shot a 3-under 69 to complete a dominant wire-to-wire win on Sunday at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Spaniard set the tone with an opening 65 at Emirates Golf Club on Thursday and never looked back, finishing with a bogey-free final round to get to 19 under and beat British Open champion Henrik Stenson (69) by three shots.

The 37-year-old Garcia claimed his 12th European Tour title. He is expected to move up to No. 9 from his current 15th place when the world golf rankings are released Monday.

Denmark’s Lasse Jensen shot a 65 for the low round of the day to finish tied for third with England’s Tyrrell Hatton (67) at 14 under.

“I’m very happy to play the way I played, ” Garcia said after the win. “The way I handled some of the key moments and to beat Henrik, we all now how great a player he is.

“I’ve been fortunate to have some really good ball-striking tournaments. This definitely was one of them. I felt like my iron play was really, really good. Obviously my driver was very good, a couple of shots here and there. But you know, on a course of 72 holes, it’s going to happen. Nobody can go without missing a shot but this week was definitely a week where I felt very comfortable with my game. I felt like I was in good control of what I wanted to do with my ball flight and stuff. So I guess it showed up.”

American Peter Uihlein carded a 69 to finish 12 under, tied for fifth with England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick (67).

Tiger Woods withdrew from the tournament on Friday because of back spasms — one day after shooting an opening 77 — in another setback to his return to golf after a long injury layoff