Chowrasia impressive at Doha, Lawrie wins title
Chowrasia impressive at Doha, Lawrie wins title
SSP Chowrasia fired four birdies on the back nine as he recovered from an early triple bogey to finish tied 47th.

Doha: SSP Chowrasia fired four birdies on the back nine as he recovered from an early triple bogey to finish tied 47th after carding two-under 70 in the final round of the Qatar Masters here on Sunday.

Chowrasia, who had been struggling with his form for the last one year had made the cut with two birdies in last three holes and on Sunday he was three-over with a triple bogey on third.

But he birdied the tenth and then had birdies on 12th, 13th, 16th and 17th for a 70 and he was two-under for the week.

"I felt very good through the week. It was great to score the way I did with four birdies on the back nine," said Chowrasia, who defends his Avantha Masters title in two weeks time.

Shiv Kapur, who had made the cut on the carded 73 and at two-over he was 73rd in the field. Earlier Jeev Milkha Singh missed the cut.

Paul Lawrie found his way back in the Official World Golf Ranking's top 50 for the first time since 2003 after a flawless performance gave him a second Commercial bank Qatar Masters.

The 43 year old Scot, known as "Chippy" all his career, chipped in twice during a brilliant closing 65 and beat Australian Jason Day and Swede Peter Hanson by four. Less than a year ago the 1999 Open Champion was 272nd in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Now he is part of golf's elite group again. The victory guarantees him a place in the 64-man World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play in Arizona later this month and the 24-man Volvo World Match Play in Spain in May.

He is on course to win a second Ryder Cup cap 13 years after his first, and if he can stay in the top 50 for another seven weeks he will make a return to The Masters Tournament at Augusta National in April after an eight-year gap.

This was Lawrie's first success since his long-time coach Adam Hunter died of leukaemia in October and Lawrie was close to tears when reminded of that afterwards.

The first chip-in was perfectly timed. Lawrie had been caught by Sergio Garcia moments before, but holing out for eagle from just short of the green at the long ninth put him two in front again.

Garcia, six under for the first 11 holes, then bogeyed the 13th and 15th to drop back to joint fifth and instead it was Day who applied the pressure.

Day, the 24 year old, runner-up in both the Masters Tournament and US Open Championship last season, began each half with four successive birdies, but a bogey six on the ninth left him with too much ground to make up.

Hanson caught Day by pitching in for eagle on the 16th and matching his two-putt birdie on the last. They were round in 67 and 65 respectively.

Fourth was 45 year old American John Daly. Down at 543rd in the Official World Golf Rankings at the start of the week, it was the former Open Champion's best display since he was second in the 2009 BMW Italian Open.

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