Sergio in dramatic play-off win

A year after being denied the chance to win the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in dramatic circumstances, Sergio Garcia finally got his hands on the trophy on Saturday.

Garcia defeated Finland’s Mikko Ilonen on the third hole of a sudden-death play-off to make up for missing out 12 months ago, when England’s Chris Wood made an eagle on the 72nd hole to beat Garcia and George Coetzee by a shot.

A flawless closing 65 saw Garcia set the clubhouse target of 16 under par, but the 33-year-old crucially missed from eight feet for a birdie on the last and then looked on as Ilonen birdied the 16th and 18th to complete a 66 and force extra holes.

“It feels good,” said Garcia, who will move from 11th to inside the top 10 in the world rankings today.

“It’s funny because I started the day thinking if I can shoot six or seven under maybe I can have a chance, and it turns out I had a very similar putt that I had last year to get it to 17 under on 18; I hit a good putt and unfortunately it didn’t break.

“The up and down from the bunker in the play-off was key and I’m very happy to be able to win it.”

Asked about the pressure of contesting his seventh European Tour play-off — having won two and lost four – Garcia said: “I almost feel less pressure because you feel like you’ve had a great week already and if you win it’s kind of like a little bit of a bonus.

“It’s been an amazing week already and I was definitely more nervous on my tee shot on the 18th (in regulation) than in the play-off. That’s probably why I hit three better tee shots.”