Lawrie falls away in final round

Peter Lawrie's bid to win his first European Tour event faded in the final round of the Singapore Masters early this morning, a final round of 74 leaving him three shots off the pace.

China's Liang Wen-chong's claimed victory in a playoff after finishing on 11-under with Lawrie, who started the day on 10-under, finishing in a share of eighth place.

Liang defeated Malaysia's Iain Steel at the first extra hole of the co-sanctioned European and Asian Tour event after the pair had finished tied, one ahead of Simon Dyson and a couple clear of 2005 champion Nick Dougherty.

As the dust settled on Liang's win, Dyson and Dougherty could only bemoan their fortunes at a tournament they both felt they should have won.
 
"I should have won, I should have won," the 29-year-old Dyson said after his one-under-par round of 71. "You need a little bit of luck to win tournaments and I am just not getting any. I didn't have any in Malaysia (he finished tied for third at last month's Malaysian Open) and I haven't had any today."

Dyson never led in Singapore but his 20-foot birdie attempt at the 18th hole missed by inches and by such small distances success and failure are measured in golf.

"Down the last I hit too good a drive . . .  God I nutted it and it left me in the rough. I couldn't have played a better shot from there and I just managed to keep it on the green," he added. "I couldn't have hit a better putt either, I thought it was in but it just didn't go.

"But it is another good finish... another top-five so that is good."

Dougherty has even more reason to feel aggrieved after staging a remarkable comeback to lead the tournament with three holes remaining, only to throw it all away with back-to-back double bogeys from the 16th.

"I did well to get myself into a position to win, but it's hard to put what happened into words," said the 24-year-old, who struggled to make the cut but reached 13-under with four birdies in six holes on Sunday before his late collapse.

"My lie on the second shot to the 16th was horrendous, the rough was about a foot long there yet a few yards in front of me it was like the fairway," he added.

"After that I was trying to be a bit cheeky and ended up doing well to get a double bogey. Then on the (par-three) 17th tee, I figured I needed two birdies to win and went straight for the pin.

"I didn't hit a very good shot and found the water and that was that. I did well to get into a position to win and should have won.

"But aggressive play got me into that position and that's what probably led to my downfall."