PETER UIHLEIN proved simply too strong at the US$2.5 million (RM11.14m) International Series Qatar on Nov 30 (Saturday), marching to a five-shot victory at Doha Golf Club.
The American, the leader since day two, shot a final round three-under-par 69 to finish on 16-under, for his second victory on The International Series this year. The result also saw him move to number one on The International Series Rankings.
South African Charl Schwartzel came home in second place after a 68, while his close friend and compatriot Louis Oosthuizen tied for third two shots back with Filipino Miguel Tabuena.
Oosthuizen fired a 71 and Tabuena a 70 – in the penultimate event of the season on the Asian Tour and The International Series.
American John Catlin tied for 19th after a 71 to wrap up the Asian Tour Order of Merit title with one event remaining, next week’s US$5m (RM22.3m) PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Advisers. He is now second on The International Series Rankings having led for most of the year.
Uihlein’s one-stroke lead at the start of the day became four at the turn. He was coasting before Schwartzel, playing three groups ahead, made a late charge with birdies on 16 and 17. Uihlein holed a clutch putt for par from 12-feet on 15 to leave the gap at three, and then birdied on 16 and 18 to put the icing on the cake.
It was an impressive finish considering the wind was up again and the greens were hard and fast.
He said: “Yeah, it was a good day and yesterday was good as well, it was a very solid weekend. I think I only missed a total of five greens for the weekend around here. When the wind is blowing, that’s pretty good. Felt pretty solid, felt in control.
“The putt on 15 was nice, to get up and down there, and I got a nice break in the rough. It was funny, I tried to do a little different mindset for me this week, at least on the back nine.
“I kind of saw the board, and that I had like a four-shot lead, and I was basically just trying to play match play against the golf course and par was a good score. I felt like if I could beat the back nine, I was going to be in good position, so making those birdies at the end was kind of nice for my little mini goal.”
Uihlein claimed International Series England in August by the sizeable margin of seven shots for his maiden title on the Asian Tour and The International Series.
It looked like he was also going to win the International Series Thailand two months later, but he bogeyed the final hole to hand victory to Lee Chieh-po from Chinese-Taipei.
Saturday’s victory is redemption for that near miss and gives the Range Goats GC player a chance of winning the rankings next week, although with a wealth of points on offer the race is wide open.
“I feel like my game is trending, it’s just getting better,” he added.
“Like stuff I’ve been working on even before, all that stuff feels like it’s kind of getting easier under the gun, which was nice. But yeah, it’s 1,000 points to the winner next week so it’s obviously all still up in the air.”
Schwartzel’s round, which started with an eagle on the par-five first, was the lowest of the day.
“It was a fantastic putting round today, I made so many feet of putts,” said the 2011 Masters champion.
“It was tough again you know; the wind hasn’t stopped blowing for the last three days. And you know, the golf course has been quite penalising when you miss the fairways and it’s hard to hit the fairways with the crosswinds and stuff.
“So, it was always going to be a grind, and I needed a good putting round. I putted well and yeah, I was happy with my round.”
South African Dean Burmester (69), India’s Anirban Lahiri (70), Eugenio Chacarra (71) from Spain, and Thai Suteepat Prateeptienchai (72) were next best placed on eight under.
In the battle to retain playing rights for next year and finish in the top 65 on the Merit list Australian Jed Morgan was the big mover. He carded a 71 to finish joint 37th and move from 66th to 64th to ensure he is safe for the new season. – Asian Tour
