DOHA, March 13: World number three Ernie Els fired a seven-under 65 to storm to a one-shot win over Sweden’s Henrik Stenson at the Qatar Masters on Sunday.
It gave the South African, who carded eight birdies and one bogey, a 12-under aggregate 276 and a second victory in seven days after his third Dubai Desert Classic success last week.
Els, who languished in joint 81st place after an opening 73, began his final round five shots down on overnight leader Stenson.
The former world number one started with a flourish, almost chipping in for an eagle at the first. After dropping a shot on the short third Els went on a birdie spree for a front-nine 33 before adding four more birdies on his return.
Els next plays at the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando, Florida nest week.
Swede Stenson began well with two birdies in the opening three holes, but two bogeys and then a double-bogey at the 14th dropped him down the leaderboard before he rallied with three birdies to finish second on 11-under.
Australian Richard Green and Sweden’s Pierre Fulke tied for third on nine-under-par. #
Leading final round scores:
276 Ernie Els (South Africa) 73 69 69 65
277 Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 67 73 66 71
279 Pierre Fulke (Sweden) 66 70 73 70, Richard Green (Australia) 67 68 73 71
280 Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 69 67 74 70, James Kingston (South Africa) 70 72 69 69, Barry Lane 71 69 69 71,
285 Arjun Atwal (India) 70 69 71 75, Nick Dougherty 73 68 71 73 Bradley Dredge 70 74 70 71, David Lynn 72 71 72 70, Miguel Angel Martin (Spain) 70 71 74 70, Steven O’Hara 70 74 71 70 Simon Yates 71 73 71 70
Ogilvy shares lead
TORONTO: Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy erased an eight-shot deficit when an eight-under 64 gave him a share of the third-round lead with American Brett Wetterich at the $5.5 million Honda Classic in Florida on Saturday.
Fresh from his first PGA Tour win at the Tucson Open two weeks ago, Ogilvy began the day with two birdies at the Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens and ended the same way by picking up strokes on 17 and 18 to finish on 12-under 204.
Ogilvy, who had been eight behind overnight leader Wetterich, reeled off nine birdies at the Sunrise course and dropped only one shot, on the par-three eighth.
Searching for his maiden PGA Tour title, Wetterich had a rollercoaster even-par 72 which included four birdies and four bogeys.
Wetterich began the day one stroke ahead of twice former U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen and doubled his advantage with a birdie on the par-four ninth.
After firing flawless back-to-back 66s in the opening two rounds, Wetterich suddenly lost his way with bogeys on 10, 11 and 15.
But he finished on a strong note with a birdie on 17 and a par at the last hole.
Janzen, without a victory since his second U.S. Open championship in 1998, looked poised to make it a three-way tie for the lead until a bogey on 18 gave him an even-par 72 for a share of third place with Pat Perez on 11-under 205.
World number two Vijay Singh, who surrendered top spot in the rankings to Tiger Woods last Sunday, has not been among the leaders all week.
A two-under 70, though, put the smooth-swinging Fijian within sight of the leaders on 210.
