Alvaro Quiros outshines Paul Lawrie in final round to lift the coveted Dubai World Championship title
Spaniard Alvaro Quiros, might have thought his two shot lead going into the final round will help him through the final 18-hole stretch, turned out to be a gross miscalculation. The overnight leader had to tackle a trailblazing Paul Lawrie who wanted the
title all for himself until Quiros pulled in a monstrous eagle on the last hole to finally claim the title, adding a double-peat to his Dubai Desert Classic title he won in February this year.
The year has turned out to be an impressive one for the 28-year-old Spaniard, who has now moved to number six on the Race to Dubai list besides bagging a whooping €922,645 winner’s prize share.
Laurie, who has played well in the last three days battling the unusual windy Jumeirah Golf Estates course and has stayed in contention throughout the weekend, pulled in five birdies in seven holes to edge past the overnight leader Quiros who stumbled on
three dreadful bogeys. Both players remained locked in a stiff nerve-wrecking showdown as Quiros birdied the 14th while Lawrie missed the 17th, leaving both players even-par with each other.
Lawrie, who has eagled the 18th on the previous day and while Quiros has bogeyed the same hole in the previous round, decided to switch stats as Quiros ended up with an eagle on the 18th and Lawrie succumbed to the immense final round
pressure, falling for a disastrous bogey.
“From the beginning Paul was holing every single putt that he had,” said Quiros, “I was trying to enjoy the moment, and fight until the end. At least if you don't win the title, you're going to be close, and that's something positive. In general, it was
a very good day of golf between him and me, and obviously Luke at the end, who obviously wants to finish with our own party again.”
Lawrie, although disappointed with his loss, admitted that it most definitely had been one of the successful years on the tour since 2002.
“I have not played here before and it's been a great week and second is better than third.” said Lawrie.
World number one Luke Donald finished for an outright third with his consecutive lows of 66 to win the Race to Dubai Money Leader title, becoming the only person in the history of the sport to pull in Money Leader titles on both PGA Tour and the European
Tour.
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