07 March 2005	Monday	25 Muharram 1426

DUBAI, March 6: Ernie Els won an unprecedented third Dubai Desert Classic in dramatic style on Sunday, holing an 18-foot eagle putt at the last for a one-shot victory.

South Africa's world number three fired a closing 68 to finish at 19-under 269 on a sweltering day at the Emirates Golf Club.

Jimenez, the European Tour's form player last year with five victories, had led by two with nine holes remaining but stumbled with a bogey-six at the 13th.

Although the pony-tailed Spaniard recovered with his fourth birdie of the day on 16, he wasted a chance to take force a playoff when he three-putted at the par-five 18th.

A closing 70 left him in a tie for second at 18 under with Britain's Stephen Dodd, who birdied three of the last nine holes on his way to a blemish-free 66.

Colin Montgomerie, boosted by a monster birdie putt from 40 feet at the par-three seventh, finished alone in fourth at 16 under after closing with a 69.

Jimenez made a scrappy start with a bogey at the third but rallied with a birdie-four at the third under a baking sun.

Leading final round scores:

269 Ernie Els (South Africa) 66 68 67 68

270 Stephen Dodd (Britain) 70 65 69 66, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 67 65 68 70

272 Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 70 67 66 69

275 Gregory Havret (France) 70 68 69 68

276 Nick Dougherty (Britain) 69 70 69 68, Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 69 70 68 69, Lee Westwood (Britain) 70 68 67 71

Showdown

MIAMI (Florida): Phil Mickelson fired a six-under 66 in the third round of the 5.5 million dollar PGA Miami event on Saturday, setting up a showdown with fellow American Tiger Woods.

Zach Johnson (64), James Driscoll (67) and defending champion Craig Parry, of Australia, (67) are in a tie for third, six shots off the pace.

Woods had perhaps his best driving round of the year, finding every fairway on the back nine, and even driving the green with a 330-yard effort at the par-4 16th.

Leading third-round scores:

196 - Phil Mickelson 64-66-66

198 - Tiger Woods 65-70-63

202 - James Driscoll 67-68-67, Zach Johnson 68-70-64, Craig Parry (AUS) 69-66-67

203 - Jim Furyk 70-66-67, Jose Maria Olazabal (ESP) 64-69-70, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 68-67-68

204 - Billy Andrade 66-66-72, Tim Clark (RSA) 68-67-69, Harrison Frazar 65-71-68, Joe Ogilvie 68-70-66, David Toms 69-66-69

205 - Paul Casey (GBR) 66-70-69, Steve Elkington (AUS) 68-72-65, Dudley Hart 70-67-68, Scott Hend (AUS) 69-67-69, Ryan Palmer 70-69-66, Joey Snyder 66-69-70

Title for Lee

PHUKET (Thailand): New Zealand's Richard Lee struck it rich at the 500,000-dollar Thai Airways International Thailand Open on Sunday, winning his maiden Asian Tour title after a play-off victory over Scott Barr.

The 31-year-old Lee carded a final round of two-under-par 70 on a blustery day at Blue Canyon Country Club to tie overnight joint leader Barr on nine-under-par 279.

Leading final round scores:

279 - Richard Lee (NZL) 70-70-69-70, Scott Barr (AUS) 65-68-74-72

(Lee wins in first hole of sudden-death shootout with a par)

280 - Bryan Saltus (USA) 70-72-70-68, Scott Strange (AUS) 68-67-73-72

281 - Harmeet Kahlon (IND) 70-70-67-74

285 - Ross Bain (SCO) 72-73-71-69, Larry Austin (AUS) 72-69-72-72, Chris Rodgers (ENG) 70-70-73-72, Prayad Marksaeng (THA) 72-70-70-73

286 - Wang Ter-chang (TPE) 72-73-70-71, Jeev Milkha Singh (IND) 65-69-74-78, Angelo Que (PHI) 71-70-67-78. -Agencies