Dubai: Alvaro Quiros took positives from his final round of 64 - complete with a hole-in-one - on the fourth hole to finish 12-under-par 276 (73,69,70,64) at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club on Sunday.

The 32-year-old Spaniard has had a tough time of late, missing the cut in Abu Dhabi and finishing tied for 23rd in Qatar as he struggled with his mental game and persistent nose bleeds, which required a flight back to Spain for nasal surgery in order to be ready for Dubai this week.

Quiros usually performs very well in the Middle East - having won in Qatar in 2009 and book-ended 2011 with victory at the Desert Classic and DP World Tour Championship, but this year he’s been left to rue some setbacks.

“These three weeks are the best for me in a year,” said Quiros, who birdied three on either nine with an ace on the fourth on Sunday. “We play great courses, in great shape and the weather is good, so for me it’s three special weeks, I’ve won two in the past and that invites me to think positive every week in the Desert Swing, but unfortunately this year that’s not happened so I can only think about the weeks ahead.

“My problems are mental, I have been unable to focus on what I want to do in every shot, I’m more focused on what I shouldn’t do, and it has been impossible for me to commit.

“I also had to fly from Qatar to Spain on Saturday night for surgery and I arrived here on Tuesday. Unfortunately the pro-am was cancelled [due to the death of local amateur golfer Ashok Bakshi] so I didn’t have the chance to prepare properly.”

Sunday’s round, however, complete with his fifth career hole-in-one harked back to happier times when he aced the 11th in his final round of his 2011 win here in Dubai.

“The most important thing was to finish with a bogey-free 64, obviously a lot of things need to improve, especially between my ears, but I think this will be a good push in the proper way.

“Today [round four] was better than previous rounds because I was able to commit a little more to the shots in front of me. That’s a positive because I have been unable to do that in the last three weeks.

“I would like to think that if I work in the same way in Malaysia [next week] a score will come, we are golf professionals and we are living for the score not to make good shots and pars, that’s where I’m suffering. Hopefully, if I keep making good shots and working in the same way a score will come and I can turn this situation around.”