Swede dreams of Ryder return

GOLF/ Qatar Masters: Joakim Haeggman, one of Sam Torrance's backroom team for the 2001 Ryder Cup triumph, reignited his career yesterday by capturing the Qatar Masters in Doha.

The 34-year-old former Ryder Cup player, whose world ranking had fallen to 223, landed his first title since 1997 after making a 14-foot birdie putt on the final green.

A closing 65, which equalled the best round of the day, gave Haeggman a 16-under-par total of 272 - and left overnight leaders Raphael Jacquelin and Nobuhito Sato needing to eagle the 581-yard par five last to tie.

Sato's pitch landed two feet in front of the hole, but hopped backwards rather than forwards, and when Frenchman Jacquelin, bunkered in two, came out well short Haeggman knew the €201,600 first prize was his.

"Obviously relief is the first word I'm looking for," said Haeggman, who needed a medical exemption onto the European Tour this year after breaking his ankle playing ice hockey in December 2002 and missing the first seven months of last season.

He became the first Swedish player to represent Europe in 1993, receiving a wild card from captain Bernard Gallacher, but a year later came another ice hockey injury - a dislocated shoulder and broken ribs.

Now he promises: "I'm not going to put my skates back on. I'm not even thinking about playing again."

Haeggman certainly got his skates on after opening with a 75 last Thursday. He played the remaining 54 holes in 19-under and was out in front from the moment he birdied five of the first seven holes today.

"I feel I am back and can cope with the pressure again," he added. "I would love to play another Ryder Cup, and walking the fairways with Sam Torrance two years ago definitely whetted my appetite."

Sato's birdie at the last gave him second place on his own and pushed Jacquelin, England's Brian Davis and Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara into a share of third.

For Davis, who would have gone top of the Order of Merit by winning, that was still good enough to persuade him not to make the trip to Singapore this week and instead return home.

The Londoner went to Qatar a career-high 50th in the world, but he needs to remain in the top 50 this week to qualify for next week's Players Championship in Florida on the US Tour, and will also earn himself a debut in the Masters at Augusta if he stays there a further week.

"Hopefully that's good enough," he said. "I'm very, very happy with five birdies and no bogeys today, but when I didn't birdie the 10th and 11th that pretty much cost me the tournament."

He expressed sympathy for Miguel Angel Jimenez, whose disqualification at the start of the day has probably cost the Spaniard, 53rd in the world, a spot in both the Players and Masters.

Jimenez's ball moved as he prepared to chip onto the 12th green in his third round, but although he thought it went back in its originally position referee Andy McFee could not agree on studying a video of the incident.

Unfortunately, that happened after Jimenez, second in the Ryder Cup points race, had signed his scorecard, so it was disqualification rather than a two-stroke penalty. He was five behind with a round to go.

There was disappointment too for Jean Van de Velde. The 1999 British Open runner-up needed a top-19 finish to earn the €14,000 he required from this and his next event to keep his tour exemption after two knee operations.

But after running up a triple bogey eight on the ninth, Van de Velde fell back into a tie for 36th.

Peter Lawrie (73) and Gary Murphy (74) had disappointing finishes to fall back into tied 36th and 62nd places respectively.