Big hitting Spaniard Alvaro Quiros won the Commercialbank Qatar Masters Presented by Dolphin Energy after holding his nerve over a tense final round to edge out former champion Henrik Stenson and Louis Oosthuizen by three shots.
The talented 26 year old Portugal Masters champion signed for a final round three under par 69 to finish at 19 under for the tournament and land his third victory on The European Tour – one in each season he has been a full member.
The victory catapults Quiros into the world's top 30 to virtually guarantee his debut at the Masters Tournament at Augusta in April.
He said: “At the beginning of the year we were trying to get into the top 50 in the world. After Abu Dhabi, my game was good, but just waiting and keep going and now very close to the majors and everything. The most important thing and I'm qualified for the Match Play and it's the first World Golf Championships I will play and it's very important for me.
“I wasn't hitting the ball well and the score was plus one or plus two after nine holes. So I thought Louis, he was getting near to me, and but I never saw the leaderboard, just on the 15th green, and it was a very difficult putt for me because I was putting a five or six metre putt for bogey and I knew that Stenson was 17 under. It was a key point on 15 green, a lovely putt.”
Stenson's 68 ensured a fifth straight top seven finish at Doha Golf Club for the 2006 champion, but the Dubai based Swede's three putt bogey at the last allowed Abu Dhabi runner-up Oosthuizen to earn a share of second after a final round of 71.
Stenson said: “It was a good day. He obviously kicked in some good birdies here and there, and I had some chances”
Ireland's Damien McGrane carded a bogey free 67 to earn a hard fought fourth at 13 under, while Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez's three birdies earned him a 69 and a share of fifth with Holland's Maarten Lafeber (72).
Inaugural Qatar champion Andrew Coltart (72) shared seventh with Simon Dyson (66), World Number Two Sergio Garcia (70), Thailand's Chapchai Nirat (70) and another Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño (69) at 11 under.
Stenson, last year's runner-up to Adam Scott, snatched the lead at 16 under with an eagle at the tenth, but Quiros and Oosthuizen - playing a group behind - responded with birdies of their own to leave all three tied through 11.
The momentum swung Quiros' way as he birdied the 12th and Oosthuizen dropped a shot to fall two off the pace before the Spaniard extended his lead as he converted from eight feet a hole later.
Stenson put pressure on with birdie of his own at 15 to move within one at 17 under before Quiros wobbled as he dumped his three wood approach from the rough into the water which resulted in him holing a 15 foot putt just to save bogey and fall back into a tie with the experienced Stenson.
But Quiros found a response of his own with a fourth birdie of the week at the 16th before taking a two stroke lead down the last with another at the par three 17th.
Stenson had a chance to cut the lead and put pressure on the Spaniard but after battling out of the desert off the tee needed three putts to finish his round and a smiling Quiros strode onto the final green to claim a third European Tour title and move up to fourth place in The Race to Dubai.
Moments earlier Oosthuizen had birdied the last to record a second successive runner-up finish, which sees him move up to fifth on the season money list - a place ahead of Stenson.
