Woods falls to Rock in Abu Dhabi By Associated Press Jan 29, 2012 7:40 AM ET . ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates ?Robert Rock held his nerve Sunday to beat U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship for the biggest win of the Englishman뭩 career. The 117th-ranked Rock shot a 2-under 70 for an overall 13-under 275 to beat the 22-year Northern Irishman by a shot and the 14-major winner by two. Woods finished in a tie for third with Thomas Bjorn (68) and Graeme Mcdowell (68). Matteo Manassero (69), the 18-year-old Italian, and George Coetzee (70) of South Africa were a further shot back. Photos Abu Dhabi Woods started the final round tied for the lead with the unheralded Rock. He appeared poised to win his second tournament in a row after ending a two-year winless drought with victory last month at the Chevron World Challenge. But the control Woods displayed for much of the weekend abandoned him Sunday and it was Rock who held it together down the stretch. . 밒 didn뭪 hit the ball as well as I would like to,?Woods said. 밫oday I was just a touch off. I was righting the ball through the fairways. I was hitting the ball a little bit further than I thought I would ?So something to look at, and something to try and figure out.? Woods started strong and it looked like he might pull away from Rock, sinking a 40-footer on No. 2 for a birdie and then chipping to within a foot of the cup for a second birdie on the 3rd. But Rock ?who said Saturday he was a bit overwhelmed to face his idol ?didn뭪 blink. He also birdied the first two of three holes to keep pace. Then Woods began to unravel. He started spraying his drives into the thick rough and fairway bunkers, resulting in the first of three bogeys. When Woods wasn뭪 missing the fairways, he was scrambling to save par as he did on the 11th when overshooting the green. As he approached his shot in deep rough just off the 11th green, he sighed heavily and let out a stream of obscenities under his breath. Woods managed to save par on 11 by sinking a 12-footer and Rock just missed a birdie putt. Woods pumped his fist and appeared to be regaining the momentum when he pulled within one shot of Rock on No. 13 when the Englishman had one of his three bogeys. But the 34-year-old Rock birdied two of the next three holes to seize control. Rock wobbled on the 18th when his drive landed in a pile of rocks near the water ?forcing him to take a drop. But he recovered beautifully, reaching the green in four and then two-putting for the win. 밒t뭩 pretty hard to believe that I managed to win today. Very surprised,?said Rock. 밒 played good. So I guess I had a chance from early on, a couple of birdies made the day feel a little bit easier.? 밄ut it뭩 difficult playing with Tiger. You expect almost every shot to threaten to go in. I felt a lot of pressure and couldn뭪 afford any lapses in concentration at all.? Rock said that he drew strength from the struggles of Woods and his other playing partner Peter Hanson (78) and used that to bounce back from several bogeys. 밒 was just focusing on trying to hit fairways and then hit my iron shots as good as I have been and give myself chances at birdies,?Rock said. 밄oth Tiger and Peter struggled on occasions on a few holes and I managed to keep my ball in the right position and didn뭪 put myself under too much stress until the last, which was a relief.? It was a storybook ending for Rock, who rose from a club pro to join the tour in 2003 and only got his first tour win last year at the Italian Open. The victory will elevate him into the top 60. 밒t doesn뭪 get an awful lot harder than playing with Tiger Woods,?Rock said. 밪o I guess barring a major championship, I know I can handle that again. So that뭩 pretty nice to know.? The loss is the second straight time Woods has failed to win with at least a share of the lead after 54 holes. He lost the Chevron World Challenge in 2010 after going into the final round with a four-shot lead over McDowell. Woods acknowledged it wasn뭪 the way he wanted to start the 2012 season but said he took solace from the control he showed the first three days and the putts he made over the final three days. He missed out on his 84th win and the fifth time in nine years to open the season with a victory. 밢bviously the ultimate goal is to win and I didn뭪 win,?Woods said. 밒 hit the ball good enough to win the golf tournament this week,?he said. 밫oday I just didn뭪 give myself enough looks at it. Most of my putts were lag putts. I didn뭪 drive the ball in as many fairways as I should have. Some of the balls were running through. Other balls, I was just missing. It was a day I was just a touch off of the tee and consequently I couldn뭪 get the ball close enough to give myself looks.? While most of attention was on Rock and Woods, several players surged into contention down the stretch. McIlroy, playing ahead of Rock and Woods, birdied 18 to move to 12 under and give himself a chance at a win. But he came up short and was left ruing a tournament in which four rounds of par or better golf was undone by several costly mistakes ?the worst coming on Friday when the third-ranked McIlroy was penalized two shots for brushing away sand in front of his ball in the rough of the 9th. 밳ou know, you뭭e got to take the positives,?McIlroy said. 밒t뭩 the first week of the year, and you know, it looks like it뭩 going to be the second year in a row here that I뭠l finish second. But still a very good start to the season and something I뭠l build on.? McDowell played the most exciting round of the tournament on Sunday, with a hole-in-one on No. 12, a chip-in on 13 and then a shot off the grandstand on the last that led to a birdie and a tie for third. For the 2010 U.S. Open champion, it was a good way to start the year after failing to win in 2011. 밃ny time you come back in 31 shots on a Sunday, semi in the mix is always a good day뭩 work,?said McDowell. 밒t was certainly an eventful last seven holes with a hole in one and a nice ricochet off the grandstand at the last.?