Commercialbank Qatar Masters concludes with Paul Lawrie at the top: Recap Part-1
The latest episode of Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy concluded with the 1999 Open champion, Paul Lawrie at the top.
The Scott carded his much-awaited victory in a thrilling fashion, pulling a majestic seven-under, 65 at the scenic Doha Golf Club, four strokes better than the nearest contender.
Lawrie opened up his final round with a birdie on the very first hole but was able to finish the following eight holes even-par until his luck struck again at the ninth.
He pulled in a blistering eagle at par-five, 9th to make the turn, again clinching the lead.
He has entered the final round with a one stroke lead over Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and was hoping to pull an early breakthrough heading in the rest of the current season.
Lawrie said after carding his 11th professional victory in Doha, "I don't think I can play much better than that. I've been playing well for a long, long time, but it's just nice to come out one ahead and shoot seven under”.
Winner of the 1999 Qatar Masters, Lawrie had considerable knowhow of the course and brought in all his experience to overpower the rest of the field comprising of the likes of Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer.
This was Lawrie’s seventh European Tour win and has also become only the second person to bag the title twice after Australian Adam Scott.
The grizzled Scott lost his knack after his stellar victory in 1999 and many of the critics shot back that his win had been a result of sudden strike of luck rather than his ability.
He won his last event in 2002, the Celtic Manor resort Wales Open on European Tour and went into obscurity for the next nine gruesome years without a win.
He finally brought an end to his winless streak last year when he carded the Open de Andalucía de Golf, taking over Johan Edfors by one stroke.
He added, "When you've got a chance to win a tournament you don't sleep as well the night before and things go racing through your mind. You've got to get back to basics and I did that. I hit some nice shots coming in”.
Lawrie has now managed to rise up to the top-50 on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) owing to his recent win and a strong finish in the previous event.
He will be part of the 64-man WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson Arizona.
In case he manages to stay in top-50 for another seven weeks, he will be heading for his Masters bid for the sixth time in his career.
Lawrie has now played some 439 European Tour events and is ranked as one of the most experienced players on the tour alongside Colin Montgomerie and Miguel Angel Jimenez.
to be continued...
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