Swede Joakim Haeggman captured his first European tour title for seven years at the Qatar Masters in Doha today.
Haeggman, who 11 years ago became the first Swede to play in the Ryder Cup, sank a 14-foot birdie putt on the last to beat Japan’s Nobuhito Sato by one with a closing 65 and 16 under par total of 272.
Sato, one of the overnight leaders, had to eagle the par five last to tie and his pitch landed only two feet short and dead on line, but stopped rather than rolling in.
He also birdied to push England’s Brian Davis, Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara and Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin into joint third.
Haeggman, a member of Sam Torrance’s backroom team for the 2002 Ryder Cup victory, missed the first seven months of last season after breaking an ankle playing ice hockey, but was given a medical exemption for this year’s circuit.