South Africa’s Justin Harding produced a superb final round to claim his first
European Tour title in the Qatar Masters.
Harding birdied three of the last four holes in a closing 66 to finish 13 under par, two shots ahead of a nine-strong group which included compatriots George Coetzee, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Erik van Rooyen and England’s Oliver Wilson.
Wilson, who began the day with a one-shot lead, carded a closing 71 at Doha Golf Club.
Harding was three shots off the lead at the start of the day and although he
birdied three of the first four holes, bogeys at the sixth and seventh looked to
have derailed his title challenge.
However, the 33-year-old birdied the 10th, 12th, 15th, 17th and 18th in a back
nine of 31 to post a clubhouse target that no-one was able to match.
“I think my biggest deficit coming from behind was one so to have to sit and
wait around I didn’t enjoy it, but I’m glad it happened,“ Harding told Sky
Sports.
“It means I get into the events I’d like to be into again. I’m looking forward
to playing in some bigger events and keeping the form going.
“I’ll be honest, the bogey I made on 13 yesterday was key to me turning it around. I hit a terrible seven iron into the water there but to get it up and down still kept me in the game.
“I made a couple of birdies coming in and turned what was a bit of a struggle into a one over par (round) and was only three shots back going into today. That was huge.”
Collated final round scores and totals in the European Tour Qatar Masters, Doha GC, Doha, Qatar (British unless stated, par 72):
275 Justin Harding (Rsa) 68 68 73 66
277 Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 68 68 71 70, Anton Karlsson (Swe) 72 66 70 69, Oliver Wilson 69 68 69 71, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 72 69 68 68, George Coetzee (Rsa) 68 68 73 68, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 72 69 72 64, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 72 71 66 68, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 69 68 70 70, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 71 67 69 70
278 Andy Sullivan 70 71 69 68, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 72 68 70 68, Thomas Detry (Bel) 70 68 70 70
279 Adri Arnaus (Spa) 67 70 72 70, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 69 71 72 67, Jeff Winther (Den) 70 70 72 67, Nick Cullen (Aus) 69 70 68 72
280 Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 72 70 68 70, Bradley Dredge 68 71 70 71
281 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 69 70 70 72, Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 72 68 72 69, Jake McLeod (Aus) 72 70 66 73, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 69 68 73 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 76 64 71 70, Min Woo Lee (Aus) 75 66 67 73, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 72 68 70 71
282 Adrien Saddier (Fra) 72 69 70 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 70 72 72, Justin Walters (Rsa) 67 73 71 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 74 69 73 66
283 Niclas Johansson (Swe) 70 72 68 73, Lee Slattery 69 74 68 72, Robert Macintyre 69 72 72 70, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 69 71 75 68, Gavin Green (Mal) 71 69 72 71, Oliver Fisher 73 67 70 73, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 72 69 72 70
284 Liam Johnston 72 71 69 72, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 71 72 69 72, Scott Jamieson 73 69 68 74, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 71 67 73 73
285 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 72 71 70 72, Hugo Leon (USA) 68 72 74 71, Tom Murray 73 68 71 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 71 72 70, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 74 67 72 72, Matthew Southgate 72 70 72 71
286 Lucas Herbert (Aus) 69 73 70 74, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 69 73 73, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 71 70 74 71, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 73 70 69 74, Wilco Nienaber (a) (Rsa) 75 68 70 73, Chris Paisley 74 69 70 73, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 69 71 73 73
287 Robert Rock 72 69 72 74, Deyen Lawson (Aus) 70 68 76 73, Ross Fisher 69 74 70 74, Paul Waring 69 70 74 74, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 68 78 70, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 73 70 74 70, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 71 72 72
288 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 73 81 65, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 71 67 72 78, Jordan Smith 71 68 74 75, Ashley Chesters 70 70 75 73, Stuart Manley 69 73 74 72, Kim Koivu (Fin) 73 70 72 73
289 Filippo Bergamaschi (Ita) 74 68 76 71
290 Richie Ramsay 68 70 76 76, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 71 72 76 71, Grant Forrest 69 72 75 74
291 David Horsey 71 71 75 74, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 70 77 73
