Abu Dhabi Championship

Paul Casey survives late

crisis to end two years

without a win

FROM THE GUARDIAN GOLF NEWS WEBSITE
Paul Casey ended two years without a win today. The Englishman was six shots clear with six holes to play in the Abu Dhabi Championship, the competition that brought him his previous victory, in 2007, before his lead was cut to one as he shot three bogeys and South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen posted a 64.
However, Casey, pictured above, parred the last four holes for a round of 70 and took the £217,153 first prize with a 21-under-par aggregate total of 267.
The defending champion, Martin Kaymer, eagled the last to tie with Oosthuizen for second place on 268.
England's Anthony Wall finished on his own in fourth place on 270 with a closing 67.
Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy shared fifth place with Johan Edfors on 271. The world No 2, Sergio Garcia, matched Oosthuizen's 64 to tie for eighth with England's Danny Willett.
Casey had begun the final round brilliantly, with birdies on the first two holes, and he added another on the 454-yard 6th to move to 22 under par. He two-putted the long eighth for another birdie, but Kaymer matched him and then struck a glorious approach to three feet on the next and cut the gap back to five shots. He was out in 33, but Casey turned in 32. Harrington's threat faded after the Open and US PGA champion bogeyed the ninth.
Five birdies in eight holes around the turn swept Oosthuizen into second place and suddenly he was only three behind as Casey, having collected his fifth birdie at the par-five 10th, failed to get up and down from sand on the 11th and three-putted from six feet two holes later.
Casey twice found rough on the 14th and after his third bogey in four holes – after only two in his first 64 – Oosthuizen was only two shots behind. That became one when he two-putted the par-five 18th for a 64 and a 20-under score.
Casey did well to stay in the outright lead after going into the rough yet again at the 16th, but he then held his nerve and hung on for victory.
Paul Lawrie shot a final round of 65 to tie for the honour of being leading Scot with Stephen Gallacher who couldn't mount a last-day challenge from a handy position and a 71 put him down to the 12-under-par 276 mark and joint 20th position. Lawrie and Gallacher both earned 16,423 Euros.
Marc Warren gained 13,751 Euros for joint 26th place.
Colin Montgomerie earned 10,148 Euros for a share of 36th place.
Gary Orr's pay packet for joint 62nd place was 3,676 Euros.
David Drysdale earned 3,015 Euros for a 68th place finish.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
267 Paul Casey 69 65 63 70.
268 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 68 65 67, Louis Oosthuizen (SAf) 67 6968 64.
270 Anthony Wall 67 67 69 67.
271 Rory McIlroy 66 69 71 65, Padraig Harrington 71 66 68 66, Johan Edfors (Swe) 66 69 69 67.
272 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 71 67 64, Danny Willett 71 66 68 67.
273 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 67 69 71 66, Bradley Dredge 71 69 66 67, Peter Hanson (Swe) 67 71 77 69.
274 Phillip Archer 71 71 67 65, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 69 70 69 66
275 Anders Hansen (Den) 70 67 69 69, Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 68 69 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 66 71 67, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 69 69 69, Graeme Storm 69 64 69 73.
276 Brett Rumford (Aus) 68 67 71 70, Paul Lawrie 73 70 68 65, Gary Murphy 69 72 69 66, Mark Foster 70 69 68 69, Peter Lawrie 73 70 69 64, Stephen Gallacher 74 66 65 71.
277 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 74 67 70 66, Marc Warren 70 69 70 68, Richard Green (Aus) 68 65 76 68, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 72 67 67 71, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 71 70 67 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 71 70 67
278 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 72 69 69, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 68 72 72 66, Simon Dyson 71 68 69 70
279 Danny Lee (Nzl) 68 70 73 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 67 69 71
280 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 72 71 67, Ross Fisher 75 67 70 68, Colin Montgomerie 72 67 70 71, Oliver Wilson 69 71 70 70, Oliver Fisher 67 69 69 75.
281 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 66 69 73 73, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 75 69 70, Alastair Forsyth 75 66 69 71, Mark Brown (USA) 72 69 70 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 71 69 72 69
282 Damien McGrane 70 72 70 70, Robert Rock 67 75 71 69, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 74 69 72 67
283 Scott Strange (Aus) 73 66 72 72, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 68 70 72 73, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 72 69 71 71, Jamie Donaldson 69 72 71 71, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 70 72 71 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 70 73 73, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 71 71 71 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 74 71 69
284 David Dixon 70 69 73 72
285 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 72 71 75 67, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 73 66 73 73, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 69 71 73
286 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 72 71 73 70, Gary Orr 75 68 72 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 71 71 75 69, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 70 77 67, Simon Wakefield 71 72 71 72
287 Paul McGinley 69 73 74 71
288 David Drysdale 72 70 74 72, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 71 72 73
289 Nick Dougherty 74 69 74 72
290 Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 72 70 72 76
291 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 72 69 78 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 69 73 76