Grace Nabs Sixth European Title


Branden Grace closed with a 6-under 66 to break a four-way tie entering the final round and win the Qatar Masters. The European Tour event, which had an unusual Wednesday start and Saturday finish, took place at Doha Golf Club.

The 26-year-old South African carded four birdies and an eagle to end up at 19-under 269, a stroke ahead Scotland's Marc Warren (67) and two in front of Austria's Bernd Wiesberger (68). Warren, Wiesberger and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo shared the 54-hole lead with Grace. Grillo posted a 70.

Grace's eagle on the par-4 16th came when he drove the green to 4 feet and made the putt. His birdie on the par-5 18th gave him the one-stroke win over Warren, who recorded eight birdies, a bogey and a double on the par-3 eighth.

Grace was thrilled with the win, his sixth on the European Tour. Grace drew worldwide attention with four victories between January and October 2012 but went winless until the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December. "It was a great day, a great week, and it's another trophy to put in the cupboard," he told the European Tour's website.

"I'm going to thank Callaway again - that driver again on 16 to four feet; without that it wouldn't be possible . . . The form has been there, I played great and I managed to get in on top."

Grace said he was able to generate positive thoughts took before Saturday's final round. "This morning, I woke up, I went through a little bit of the previous videos of when I won just to try to get me in the right frame of mind and it worked," he said.

"It was a nice way to wake up. The Middle East is one of the places I've always wanted to win. I've thought my game suits these type of golf courses, and I play well when I come here."

Grace believes the only direction for him to go now is up. "These are big now, so this is one of the wins that's really putting me back on the map. I think I'll be in the top-50 or just outside [in the Official World Golf Ranking]. These are the things that we need as golfers to push us to the next level - it's just nice that I could do it at a place like this and in a special way like this."

Ending up in fourth at 272 was England's Eddie Pepperell (67), while joining Grillo in fifth at 273 was France's Gregory Bourdy (65) and South Korean Byeong-hun An, who also had a 65.

Defending champion Sergio Garcia rebounded from a 77 on Friday with a 69 to tie for 46th at 4-under 284. The top-ranked player in the field, No. 2 Henrik Stenson, shot a 66 to rise into a tie for 13th at 278 with, among others, No. 5 Justin Rose.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015004/leaderboard/index.html.