South African Branden Grace retained his Qatar Masters title in Doha on Saturday winning by two shots and making tournament history in the process. The world number 11 shot a last round 69 in the European Tour tournament to go with previous rounds of 70, 67 and 68 to finish on 14 under. In doing so he became the first player to win back-to-back Qatar Masters' titles, despite describing his chances of winning again in Doha as "slim" at the beginning of the week.
As well last the trophy he also received a winner's cheque for $416,660.00 (381, 458.96 euros). It was his seventh European Tour victory, his first since last year in Qatar, the first time he has defended a title and he is the fifth South African to win in Doha. Afterwards Grace said he would return to Doha next year to try and win a hat-trick of titles.
"What a great week, it's great to defend the title," he said. "I can't wait to come back next year and give it a run for the third time." He added: "I am pretty much lost for words." Grace took last year's title with a score of 19 under. But windy and cold conditions - Grace described them as "brutal" - this year prevented such low scores.