Lawrie Captures Qatar Masters


Scotland's Paul Lawrie shot a 7-under 65 to win the weather-shortened Qatar Masters. The European Tour event started Thursday, but high winds Friday at Doha Golf Club reduced the tournament to three rounds.

After a birdie on the first and an eagle on the ninth holes - both par-5s, Lawrie carded four more birdies on the inward half to finish the 54 holes in 15-under 201, four strokes lower than Jason Day (65) and Peter Hanson (67).

"I don't think I can play much better than that," the 1999 British Open champion said. "I've been playing well for a long, long time, but it's just nice to come out one ahead and shoot 7-under."

Day also had a rousing back nine, with four straight birdies on Nos. 10-13 and another on the par-5 closer. "It's been a very successful week and I did everything I could to try and catch (Lawrie)," the Australian said.

"The wind wasn't up as much as the last few days, but I'm excited to be heading back to the U.S. to try and take this momentum into the PGA Tour."

Hanson came away impressed with the winner. "Paul played fantastic and hardly missed a shot," the Swede noted. "He holed out when he should, made all those clutch putts and chipped in a couple of times. To go out in the lead and shoot 65 on this golf course is an unbelievable achievement."

After opening with a 67 to get into contention, John Daly struggled in the second round to a 1-over 73. But the Arkansas native rallied with another 67 to end up in solo fourth at 9-under 207.

Daly now plans to stay on the European Tour and is happy how that adventure began. "It's a great start - a very unexpected start," the two-time major winner said.

"My goals are to get my European Tour card and maybe get into the DP World Tour Championship at the end of the year. I think if I can get into enough tournaments then that's a realistic target I hope.

"If I just keep doing what I'm doing and working at it, then it's all about confidence for me."

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2012/tournamentid=2012005/leaderboard/index.html.