A superb eagle and a back nine birdie-blitz handed Paul Lawrie his second Commercialbank Qatar Masters title in Doha on Sunday.
Thirteen years after picking up his first victory in Qatar - a victory he soon followed up by lifting the Claret Jug at Carnoustie - Lawrie completed another comprehensive win courtesy of a final-round, seven-under-par 65 at Doha
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Club.
The Scot finished at 15 under par, four strokes clear of Australian Jason Day, who closed with a 65 that, incredibly, featured two runs of four successive birdies, and Swede Peter Hanson, who equaled Day\'s total after a birdie and an eagle in his final three holes.
Strong winds that made play impossible for much of the second day shortened this year\'s event to 54 holes, and after grabbing a narrow one-shot lead after the second round was completed on Saturday afternoon, Lawrie sealed the deal thanks to a bogey-free final round on Sunday.
\"I don\'t think I can play
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much better than that,\" he said.
\"I\'ve been playing well for a long, long time, but it\'s just nice to come out one ahead and shoot seven under.
\"When you\'ve got a chance to win a tournament you don\'t sleep as well the night before and things go racing through your mind.
\"You\'ve got to get back to basics and I did that. I hit some nice shots with
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coming in.\"
Lawrie started in perfect fashion, sinking a 10-foot birdie putt on the first hole before settling down for seven straight pars that, at that stage, saw Spain\'s Sergio Garcia, who had played the front nine in four under par, draw level.
But the situations became reversed on the back nine - Garcia could only rack up two more birdies and two more bogeys, eventually finishing in a tie for fifth on eight under, while Lawrie sprung to life at the ninth, chipping in for eagle to establish a two-shot lead and following it with four more birdies on the back nine - at the 11th, 14th, 16th and 17th - to see off the charges of Day and Hanson. His final birdie at the 17th again came courtesy of a chip-in
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It\'s a big win for the 43-year-old. Down in 272nd place in the world rankings less than a year ago, his victory takes him into the world\'s top 50 for the first time since July 2003. If he is still there at the end of next month he will earn his first start in The Masters at Augusta for eight years.
The victory also guarantees him a place in the 64-man World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play in Arizona later this month and the 24-man Volvo World Match Play in Spain in May.
If he can keep his good form going, the Ryder Cup is also a distinct possiblity.
\"I\'ve been trying to keep that to the back of my mind,\" said Lawrie.
\"If I keep playing
Mizuno Men\'s MP-69 Irons
as I am I will get in, there\'s no question, but there\'s a long way to go and I know as well as anyone that there are a lot of good players.\"
When he was reminded of how victory in Qatar last time preceded his famous Open win, Lawrie added: \"Now wouldn\'t that be nice to get that again?\"
American John Daly finished alone in fourth on nine under after a well-played 67, two behind the second-placed duo and six behind Lawrie, while France\'s Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (65), Dane Soren Hansen (66) and Argentinian Ricardo Gonzales (70) shared fifth place with Garcia. It\'s Daly\'s best display since he was second in the 2009 BMW Italian Open.
A 69 from Martin Kaymer saw him finish tied for ninth on seven under, while Lee Westwood equalled the German\'s score to finish share 12th place on six under.
Flawless 65 sees Lawrie home
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