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| March 10, 2003 | Monday | Muharram 6, 1424 |
Derksen spoils Els party
DUBAI, March 9: Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen upstaged pre-tournament favourite Ernie Els by winning his debut European Tour title by a shot at the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday.
Derksen, who eagled the 550-yard 13th to draw level with Els in a tie for the lead before the South African stumbled with a double-bogey six at the par-four 12th, fired a closing seven-under-par 65 to finish at 17-under 271.
Defending champion Els, who had been chasing his fifth title of the year in seven starts, failed to birdie the last to force a playoff and had to settle for second place, carding a final-round 69.
Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth, who played with Els in the final group, closed with a 71 to share third spot at 14-under 274, level with England’s David Lynn, who also returned a 71, and 1991 U.S. Masters champion Ian Woosnam, a 69.
World number two Els seemed to have the title within his grasp when he opened up a two-shot cushion over the rest of the field after 11 holes.
But hopes of what would have been a seventh tournament victory in his last 10 outings crashed when he ran up his double-bogey six at the par-four 12th.
Moments before, Derksen had eagled the 550-yard 13th to draw level with the big-hitting South African and the pair were deadlocked at the top of the leaderboard after Els bounced back with a 25-foot birdie putt at the par-three 15th.
But Derksen then birdied the 18th to finish at 17 under and Els, who later fluffed his chip from the edge of the 18th green, was unable to make a birdie of his own to take the tournament into extra holes.
The day had begun promisingly for Els, one of three players locked at the top of the leaderboard overnight, when he drove the green at the 351-yard second hole and his two-putt birdie left him at one under for the day and 14 under for the tournament.
The world number two then birdied the par-five third to move two clear of Forsyth, Lynn and South Korea’s Kevin Na.
Although he dropped his first shot of the day at the par-four sixth, the South African birdied the seventh before reaching the turn in two-under 33 and then picked up his fourth shot of the day at the par-three 11th.
Forsyth, in the company of Els for the second successive day, had found the bunker off the tee at the first on his way to a bogey-five but immediately hit back with a birdie-four at the third.
The Scot’s roller-coaster round continued with a bogey at the par-three fourth, birdies at five and seven, another drop at eight before he holed a 40-foot birdie putt at the ninth to close to within a stroke of the lead.
But he then bogeyed the 11th to slip back to 13 under.
Leading final round scores (British unless stated):
271 Robert-Jan Derksem (Netherlands) 67 72 67 65
272 Ernie Els (South Africa) 66 68 69 69
274 Ian Woosnam 69 66 70 69, David Lynn 68 66 69 71, Alastair Forsyth 65 69 69 71
275 Mikko Ilonen (Finland) 67 67 73 68, Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 69 66 71 69, Kevin Na (South Korea) 68 69 68 70
276 Phillip Price, 71 67 68 70, Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 70 68 67 71
277 Darren Clarke 70 69 72 66, Brian Davis 68 72 70 67
279 Jyoti Randhawa (India) 70 72 69 68, Jamie Donaldson 67 71 72 69, Mark Foster 73 66 68 72
280 Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 71 72 71 66, Fredrik Andersson (Sweden) 68 73 72 67, David Park 71 69 72 68, Gary Orr 71 69 68 72
281 David Carter 70 73 70 68, Bradley Dredge 73 69 69 70, Paul Lawrie 70 72 69 70, Mikael Lundberg (Sweden) 69 69 72 71, John Bickerton 69 71 70 71, Richard Bland 72 67 70 72, Nick Dougherty 67 69 73 72, Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 72 69 67 73
282 Tobias Dier (Germany) 69 69 76 68, Rolf Muntz (Netherlands) 73 67 74 68, Soren Hansen (Denmark) 72 71 71 68, Shingo Katayama (Japan) 70 68 75 69, Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 71 68 73 70, Steve Webster 71 71 70 70, Charlie Wi (South Korea) 70 72 70 70, Greg Owen 67 69 74 72, Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 72 69 68 73, Simon Yates 69 72 68 73—Reuters
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