O'Meara triumphs in the desert

Mark O’Meara, the 47-year-old former Masters and Open champion, today achieved his first big victory since 1998.

A closing 69 in the Dubai Desert Classic gave O’Meara, a lowly 201st in the world rankings, a one-stroke win over Ireland’s Paul McGinley, his playing partner on all four days.

O’Meara finished with a 17-under-par total of 271 and celebrated his return to form in the company of world number one Tiger Woods, who gave him a lift back to the United States on his private jet.

Woods finished joint fifth. Joint third were two former winners of the title - Ernie Els and David Howell.

Joint leaders overnight, O’Meara and McGinley were still level after eight but McGinley went into the water at the ninth and O’Meara birdied the short 11th.

The Dubliner got one back on the long 13th but drove behind a tree three holes later and was unable to repair the damage of that bogey. He needed an eagle at the par five and was on in two, but from over 60 feet had to settle for a two-putt birdie.

Final round scores and totals in the Dubai Desert Classic, Emirates GC, United Arab Emirates (Eng unless stated, par 72):

271 Mark O’Meara (USA) 70 64 68 69

272 Paul McGinley (Irl) 68 65 69 70

275 David Howell 67 71 70 67, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 68 72 65

276 Marcel Siem (Den) 70 70 70 66, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 69 67 73 67, Brian Davis 70 66 69 71, Tiger Woods (USA) 70 69 69 68

277 Peter Lawrie (Irl) 69 69 71 68, Greg Owen 71 65 72 69, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 70 70 68 69

278 Paul Casey 69 68 70 71, Bradley Dredge (Wal) 64 71 72 71, Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 70 69 71 68, Lee Westwood 70 71 68 69, Andrew Marshall 72 71 67 68

279 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 74 69 70 66, Gary Orr (Sco) 69 75 68 67, Damien McGrane (Irl) 72 70 68 69, 280 Simon Dyson 68 69 70 73, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 73 70 67, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 68 72 73 67, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 73 68 68 71, 281 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 70 71 71, Steve Webster 70 73 68 70, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69 72 70 70

282 Richard Green (Aus) 68 71 72 71, Brett Rumford (Aus) 74 69 70 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 74 69 72 67

283 Nick Faldo 73 69 73 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 71 70 73, Phillip Price (Wal) 71 72 71 69, Paul Broadhurst 70 74 73 66

284 Ian Poulter 73 70 70 71, Stephen Gallacher (Sco) 72 71 73 68, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 74 70 70, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 71 70 72 71, Maarten Lafeber (NIrl) 72 72 71 69, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 70 72 71 71, Simon Khan 69 71 74 70

285 Michael Jonzon (Swe) 74 70 73 68, Anders Hansen (Den) 72 70 70 73, Raymond Russell (Sco) 70 73 71 71, Mark Foster 74 70 70 71

286 Kenneth Ferrie 70 70 74 72, James Kingston (Rsa) 73 70 72 71, Gary Murphy (Irl) 71 67 76 72, Martin Lemesurier 70 73 70 73, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 71 73 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 71 70 75, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 71 71 72

287 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 72 70 74 71, John Bickerton 71 71 71 74, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 73 72 71, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 69 73 74 71

288 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 73 72 73, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 75 70 74, Stuart Little 74 69 72 73, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 70 75 72

289 Mark Roe 71 72 75 71, Peter Baker 69 73 76 71, Gary Evans 71 73 73 72, Miles Tunnicliff 71 73 76 69

290 Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 72 71 70 77, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 73 70 73 74, Thavorn Wiratchant (Tha) 74 70 74 72

291 Alastair Forsyth (Sco) 70 73 76 72

292 Andrew Coltart (Sco) 72 72 73 75, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 71 72 72 77

295 Ben Banks 73 70 79 73

ret Carlos Rodiles (Spa)