Quiros ends year with Dubai double to enter top 20 in world rankings

Dubai: Spain's Alvaro Quiros birdied his first three and eagled the 18th to win the 2011 Dubai World Championship by two strokes over Scotland's Paul Lawrie at Jumeirah Golf Estates yesterday.

Quiros' final round of 67 with two bogeys left him 19 under par 269 (68,64,70,67) overall. While Lawrie, who birdied the last, also carded 67 on his fourth round, which incurred one bogey, to end 17 under par 271 (65,73,66,67).

Hanson, who led the tournament on day one, finished fourth at 14 under par 274 (64,72,71,67) double-bogeying the penultimate hole of his last round to hand Luke Donald, who tripled birdied at the end, third spot at 16 under par 272 (72,68,66,66).

Quiros, who managed to keep hold of his lead from day two, despite seeing it diminish by two strokes after round three, now records his sixth European Tour win from 119 events. It follows on from his Dubai Desert Classic victory in February to hand him multiple victories in the same season for the first time in his career. He now moves into the top 20 in the world rankings from 52nd.

Quiros said: "I was very pleased to play like that, obviously I felt the pressure because I was leading. I think it could make a huge difference if I'm able to repeat these thoughts every single week of my life.

Uphill into wind

"From the beginning, Paul was holing every single putt that he had. I started with three birdies and that wasn't enough to take off, to have a good advantage between him and me. So I was just trying to repeat myself, keep doing the same, try to enjoy the moment, and fight it. Just fight to the end, at least if you don't win the title, you're going to be close, and that's something positive.

"At the moment, the mental statement is the one that moves the real golfer that we have inside, and you can see it in Luke. He feels so good under pressure, so good feeling that some people are chasing him."

Paul Lawrie, who missed out on what would have been a seventh European Tour win from 490 appearances, said: "I think anybody would tell you they are disappointed not to win. I probably did enough to have a chance coming down 18, and that's all you can do. Alvaro, he's got at least 250 yards uphill into the wind on 18 with a three wood off a hanging lie. Any time you make a three off that lie, he's a worthy winner.

"I've enjoyed it. I have not played here before and it's been a great week and second is better than third. It's a big event, a big field with some great players. You're talking about Luke Donald, the first person to win the Order of Merit on both sides of the Atlantic. I fished a shot ahead of Luke this week. That's massive for me."