SHANGHAI, Nov 13: Briton David Howell held off Tiger Woods to win the inaugural Champions Tournament by three strokes on Sunday. The Englishman fired a four-under-par 68 to finish on 20-under 268 at the $5 million event in Shanghai, Asia’s richest tournament and the start of the 2006 European Tour.

Woods had to settle for second place in his first official tournament in China after returning a final-round 70.

It was Howell’s third win on the European Tour and earned him $830,000.

Leading scores:

268 David Howell (Britain) 65 67 68 68

271 Tiger Woods (United States) 65 69 67 70

274 Nick Dougherty (Britain) 64 68 73 69 Nick O’Hern (Australia) 67 67 67 73 275 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 67 69 69 70 Vijay Singh (Fiji) 67 69 70 69 276 Paul Casey (Britain) 67 68 73 68

277 Jean-Francois Remesy (France) 70 67 70 70 Thaworn Wiratchant (Thailand) 67 68 69 73

278 Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 66 70 69 73

279 Paul Lawrie (Britain) 64 75 70 70

CLARKE RETAINS TITLE

TOKYO: Britain’s Darren Clarke successfully defended his Taiheiyo Masters title in Japan after eagling the final hole on Sunday.

The cigar-puffing Northern Irishman rolled in a 40-foot putt in the shadow of Mount Fuji to complete a four-under-par 68 for an 18-under total of 270.

Clarke finished two strokes clear of Japan’s Mitsuhiro Tateyama to clinch his third title on the Japanese tour after winning the 2001 Chunichi Crowns tournament.—Agencies