South African star Retief Goosen ended a frustrating 21-month title drought with a magnificent two-stroke victory at the Iskandar Johor Open on Sunday.
The two-time Major champion fired a superb final round of six-under-par 66, overcoming an overnight four-shot deficit at Royal Johor Country Club to triumph at the 500,000-dollar Asian Tour event.
Thai veteran Thaworn Wiratchant and Australian Kane Webber challenged Goosen all the way before settling for second and third place after a 71 and 70 respectively.
Iain Steel was Malaysia's best finisher after a 72 earned him tied fourth place with overnight leader Niclas Fasth of Sweden and Australian trio Andrew Dodt, Richard Moir and Mitchell Brown.
It was Goosen's fourth victory on the Asian Tour and his 29th international title, and ended a lean spell where his last victory came at the Qatar Masters in early 2007.
"It means a lot. It's been a drought. Coming down the stretch, you haven't won for a while, so it's nice to finish it off with some good shots and I got the job done," Goosen said.
"It's great to win again. It's been a tiring week walking these hills but it was well worth it," said Goosen, who was bogey free for the last day.
Thaworn, chasing a record 11th career win at the Iskandar Johor Open, birdied the 14th hole to get to within two shots of Goosen but failed to find the two birdies down the stretch to force a play-off. A weather-delay which suspended play for two hours and 15 minutes while the last two groups were still on the course only served to delay the inevitable as Goosen walked off with the winner's cheque of 79,250 dollars. Thaworn, Asia's number one in 2005, started strongly with birdies on the second and third holes but dropped shots on the fifth and 10th with errant drives. He gave himself a glimmer of hope with his birdie on the 14th but it came a little too late.
"It was a long and tiring week (with the weather delays). This is my seventh tournament in a row and I think it affected me," Thaworn said.
Webber, showing a welcome return to form after a lean spell, was in the title mix as well with birdies on the 15th and 16th holes before running out of steam.