European Tour / Qatar Masters: Henrik Stenson expressed his delight at ridding himself of a 10-month hoodoo by claiming the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in Doha.
In last year's event the 29-year-old held a two-shot lead over the field going into his final round but ended up losing to Ernie Els, who came from five shots back.
Stenson had finished four of his last six tournaments in the top three and also had to contend with the knowledge he had led going to the final round at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship last week, only to finish as runner-up again.
This time, however, he demonstrated he could take the pressure exerted by a dogged display from Paul Broadhurst to win by three strokes and a take a third European Tour title back to his Sharjah home.
"After being second last year, this feels great," he beamed. "It's not that I have been disappointed in my own performances in a lot of these second places, but there is a big difference between winning and finishing second.
"I felt the pressure for sure, especially with a bad finish on Saturday - it didn't feel too good walking off the course with a dropped shot on the last.
"But it was a new day and the goal I set was to shoot a 68, and I thought if I did that I would win.
"To get to the turn at two under was pretty good and I thought if I could just hang in there on the downhill holes at the end, I might get a couple of birdies which would do the job, and they did."
Stenson's win brought him €275,456 and a step closer to realising his key ambition of the season and make his first Ryder Cup, an aim he is rapidly closing in on.
"My main goal this year is to make the Ryder Cup, which means playing more European events," he said.
"There's a long way to go but I am definitely closing in on the team now, and another good couple of weeks and we should have that sorted. "
It was close all through the final round as the Swede and Broadhurst went head to head but a birdie at the 17th ensured Stenson went to the last with a two-shot advantage and he secured his third European Tour title with a fifth birdie of the day.
Broadhurst, who showed great tenacity to keep the pressure on while 30mph gusts raced across the desert course, finished one shot clear of South Africa's Darren Fichardt, the 2003 Qatar Masters champion.
Ireland's Paul McGinley had a disappointing final round of one-over-par 73 to finish in a share of ninth place on 282.
Darren Clarke shot a four-under-par round of 68 for 285 while Damien McGrane also slipped back with a 76 for level par 288.
Meanwhile, the Asian Tour's chief executive has labelled as an insult a move by the European Tour to stage two events in Asia without the involvement of the host circuit.
The European Tour recently announced the inclusion of the Indonesian Open (March 2nd to 5th) and the Singapore Masters (March 9th to 12th) on its schedule.
Louis Martin is angry that the Indonesian Open will go ahead the same week as the Amy Valley Masters, a new Asian Tour event in Mumbai.
"It's an insult the European Tour and its Asian promoter, the Parallel Media Group, are planning and it is completely out of order in fostering good relationships between the two tours," Martin said yesterday.
Martin said he had several concerns over the running of the Singapore tournament. "As far as the Singapore Masters is concerned we've got no guarantee of any long-term commitment, nor do we know who the sponsor is or what the prize-money is," said Martin.
"The sooner the European Tour and the Asian Tour can get together without their partners, Parallel, the better it will be for everyone who is involved in golf."
Martin said a near 10-year co-sanctioning agreement between the European and Asian tours would be severely damaged unless a compromise was reached.
"If they don't go ahead and move the Indonesian Open, I hate to think of the ramifications."
Final Totals
(Irish in bold, Brit unless stated, par 72):
(x) denotes amateur
273 - Henrik Stenson (Swe) 66 68 71 68. €275,456)
276 - Paul Broadhurst 72 67 67 70. (€183,637)
277 - Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 67 72 70 68. (€103,462).
279 - Nick Dougherty 69 67 73 70, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 66 69 72 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 70 68 73, Richard Finch 68 68 71 72. (€65,035 each)
280 - Graeme Storm 68 71 70 71
282 - David Lynn 70 70 71 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 68 72 71, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 68 71 72, Paul McGinley (Irl) 69 70 70 73 (€32,228).
283 - Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 72 71 71 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 71 69 72.
284 - Andrew Buckle (Aus) 71 72 70 71, Anthony Wall 74 71 68 71, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 71 69 71 73, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 69 69 75.
285 - Darren Clarke (NIrl) 71 74 72 68 (€19,271), Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 74 71 69, Unho Park (Aus) 71 70 74 70, Andrew Coltart 69 72 73 71, Steve Webster 72 71 71 71.
286 - Vijay Singh (Fij) 73 71 73 69, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 70 71 75 70, Bradley Dredge 69 72 74 71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 72 72 71 71, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 72 73 73, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 73 69 71 73, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72 71 70 73, David Howell 73 71 69 73, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 69 73 74.
287 - Shiv Kapur (Ind) 75 67 77 68, Miles Tunnicliff 71 74 72 70, Danny Denison (x) 67 78 71 71, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 72 68 71 76.
288 - Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 77 68 73 70, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 72 74 71, Angelo Que (Phi) 71 72 72 73, Simon Dyson 74 71 70 73, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 70 67 75 76, Damien McGrane (Irl) 72 72 68 76 (€11,238).
289 - Ian Poulter 72 72 75 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 77 68 73 71, Chris Rodgers 73 71 72 73, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 69 71 75 74, Marcel Siem (Ger) 69 71 74 75, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 71 72 71 75, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 70 72 70 77.
290 - Andrew Oldcorn 71 74 72 73, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 73 70 76.
291 - Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 71 69 75 76, Peter Lawrie 72 71 72 76, John Bickerton 73 72 68 78.
292 - Guarav Ghei (Ind) 72 73 74 73, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 72 73 74 73, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 75 68 73 76, Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 75 68 70 79.
293 - Adam Fraser (Aus) 72 69 78 74, Scott Strange (Aus) 75 70 73 75, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 72 75 75.
294 - Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 73 72 73 76, Simon Yates 69 73 74 78, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 67 74 71 82.
295 - Kenneth Ferrie 75 70 71 79.
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