Thomas Bjørn, ranked 134th in the world, captured the Qatar Masters by four strokes from Spaniard Alvaro Quiros on Sunday.
The 11th Tour victory of his career should put Bjorn, who was 10th on the rankings a decade ago, into the elite 64-man field for the Accenture world match play championship in Arizona later this month.
Bjorn, who will soon be 40, finished with a closing 69 for a 14-under-par total of 274.
The Numbers
• His 11th European Tour International Schedule victory in his 355th European Tour event.
• Moves to €312,123 in the Race to Dubai.
• Moves to just inside the top 60 from 133rd in the Official World Golf Ranking and on course to gain a place in the WGC – Accenture Match Play.
• This victory beats his previous best performance in the event when he tied eighth in 2010.
• Second consecutive season with a victory following the Estoril Open de Portugal in 2010.
• Second European Tour win in the Desert, following the 2001 Dubai Desert Classic.
• Follows Ernie Els (1994, 2002 and 2005 Dubai Desert Classic and 2005 Qatar Masters), Henrik Stenson (2006 Commercialbank Qatar Masters and 2007 Dubai Desert Classic) and Robert Karlsson (2010 Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy and 2010 Dubai World Championship presented by DP World), as players to win two different Desert events on The European Tour.
• First Dane to win the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy.
OTHER FACTS
• Extends Denmark’s run of consecutive winning years on The European Tour to seven, dating back to the 2005 season.
• Regains his position outright as the most prolific former European Challenge Tour player on The European Tour with 11 wins.
• The 13th different winner in Doha from the 14 tournaments staged, dating back to 1998. Denmark become the eighth different nation to win the tournament.
• The 23rd Danish victory on The European Tour.
• Gains his 17th professional win worldwide. Qatar is the 12th different destination he has won in.
• Gains an exemption until the end of 2013.
• Gains a place in the 2011 WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and WGC – HSBC Champions.
