Branden Grace retains Qatar Masters title in windy Doha

Branden Grace was a model of composure as he defied blustery conditions to retain his Qatar Masters title in Doha.

Grace kept mistakes to a minimum on a difficult final day and carded a three-under 69 to finish two shots clear of Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Thorbjorn Olesen, but 54-hole Paul Lawrie endured a round to forget as he slipped into a tie for 13th after a closing 78.

Lawrie maintained his overnight two-shot lead when he matched Grace's birdie at the par-five first, but the first of many wayward drives from the Scot led to a bogey at the next.

Both got into trouble at the fifth and were unable to save par, but Grace hit back at the next when he drained a 25-foot putt for birdie to join Olesen on 12 under, while Lawrie's bid for a third Qatar title was scuppered by a snap-hook off the tee at the ninth which he compounded by blocking his recovery into the water - leading to a double-bogey seven.

Olesen missed the green at the eighth and bogeyed, and Grace soon found himself two clear of the field with a sublime pitch to within two feet at the 10th to set up his third birdie of the round.

The South African scrambled two clutch pars at 11 and 12, and Lawrie tumbled out of contention when he bogeyed the 13th and ran up a double-bogey six at the next when he pulled his drive into a bush and was forced to take a penalty drop.

Grace continued to grind out the pars, while he would have been surprised to glance at the leaderboard and see Bradley Dredge set the clubhouse target at 11 under when the Welsh journeyman managed to birdie each of the last four holes to return an excellent 69.

Another thrilling finish was produced by Cabrera-Bello, who looked out of the running when he double-bogeyed the short eighth, as he birdied 16 and 17 and then drilled a superb second to 15 feet at the last.

But the Spaniard mis-read his eagle putt and tapped in for birdie which took him into the clubhouse lead ahead of Dredge and trimmed Grace's advantage to a single stroke with the final hole to negotiate.

However, the defending champion was up to the challenge and followed a solid drive with a purely-struck 270-yard second to the heart of the green before he safely two-putted to seal the seventh European Tour win of his career, and his first since his narrow victory over Marc Warren in Doha 12 months ago.

Olesen joined Cabrera-Bello in a share of second when he followed a run of nine pars by holing a long putt for birdie at 18 to cap a 71, while Lee Slattery birdied the final two holes to join Dredge and Andrew Johnston (70) on 11 under.

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Sergio Garcia was a further three strokes adrift after two late birdies salvaged an erratic 70 which earned him a top-10 finish alongside South African pair Louis Oosthuizen and George Coetzee and Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood and Richard Bland.

Fleetwood was just a shot off the lead after his second birdie of the day at the sixth, but he lost ground on Grace with a torrid run of four bogeys in six holes around the turn as he closed with a disappointing 74.