Li claims Qatar Masters with dramatic birdie on final hole

China’s Haotong Li drained a birdie at the last hole to clinch his fourth European Tour title at the Qatar Masters yesterday.
Li holed his birdie putt on the 18th from 15 feet to hold off surging Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen by one shot and secured the win at Doha Golf Club. China star Li posted a 3-under 69 in the final round to finish on 16-under par for the week, while Neergaard-Petersen posted 65 to finish one shot back.
The No 300-ranked Chinese golfer let out a loud roar, pumped both fists and wept in the arms of his caddie after his winning putt.
“I’m just so pleased I made that putt on the last,” Li said. “I’m just very glad I closed out nicely.”
Li started the day with a two shot lead after shooting 67 on Saturday. He doubled that advantage with birdies at the first two holes.
After that, he trod water as he made two bogeys but followed them immediately with birdies.
Li had taken a two-shot lead into the final round and stretched his advantage to four following a birdie-birdie start yesterday.
But this bid for his fourth DP World Tour title hit a sticky patch as he was caught and then overtaken at the top by a charging Neergaard-Petersen on the back nine. “Even after yesterday, I felt like this morning was really stressful,” the 29-year-old Chinese golfer said.Neergaard-Petersen caught up with seven birdies by the time he reached the 17th. He bogeyed that hole but then birdied the last for a seven-under-par final round of 65. Li, playing in the last pair, came to the 18th tied for the lead and hit his second shot into a bunker on the 584-yard hole.
But he showed nerves of steel as he drained the 15 feet birdie putt to enter the winner’s circle for the first time since the 2022 BMW International Open, where he also made a long putt to win. “It means a lot,” said Li. “I never thought I could come back in this position.”
Neergaard-Petersen was second two clear of Englishman Brandon Robinson Thompson, who had started the day in second.
Leading scores
(GBR & IRL unless stated/par 72)
272 - Li Haotong (CHN) 69-67-67-69
273 - Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (DEN) 66-72-70-65
275 - Brandon Robinson-Thompson 66-68-71-70
278 - Antoine Rozner (FRA) 69-70-71-68
279 - Jayden Schaper (RSA) 69-69-69-72, Martin Couvra (FRA) 71-69-68-71, Ben Schmidt 73-67-70-69
280 - Adrien Dumont (BEL) 69-71-69-71, Kim Min-Kyu (KOR) 69-67-72-72
281 - Sam Bairstow 67-72-70-72, Matthew Jordan 69-71-67-74, Daniel Brown 69-68-78-66, Niklas Lemke (SWE) 70-68-71-72
282 Ivan Cantero (ESP) 71-72-70-69