Chris Wood produced a flawless final round to claim his second European Tour title with a two shot triumph at the Lyoness Open Powered by Greenfinity at Diamond Country Club.
The Englishman, starting five shots off the pace, carded an immaculate 67 to secure his first victory since winning the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in 2013.
Brilliant off the tee and clinical with the putter, he collected five birdies to finish ahead of Rafa Cabrera-Bello on 15 under.
Wood, who won a BMW i8 for a hole-in-one en route to a fourth-place finish at the recent BMW PGA Championship, said: “It’s fantastic to win. It was a long winter sitting at home with a cast on my wrist getting frustrated and just wanting to be out here playing and competing.
“I have been playing well the last few weeks so I felt that a victory was coming but until the moment comes you always think when will it come? Chris Wood
“I played great all week and today especially. I felt that if I could beat 68 today I would have an outside chance and obviously things went my way and 67 was good enough.
“People will probably look at the result and think it was fairly straightforward but I needed to play well today and for a few other things to go my way and thankfully it all came together for me.
“I injured my wrist playing tennis last October and had to rest for five months. I came back in March and finished third in Morocco which I thought would give me a lot of confidence but then I didn’t get the results after that and played quite poorly for a few weeks. But the last month I have felt I was playing well enough to win so it has been coming.
“It has been a while since the win in Qatar but let me tell you it feels a lot better to say I am a two-time winner on Tour – it is a very special feeling to win out here so I am looking forward to celebrating this one.”
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Despite starting and finishing strongly, Cabrera-Bello’s hopes were dashed when he dropped three consecutive shots from the ninth, meaning he had to settle for a level par 72.
Gregory Bourdy had played excellently for the first three days, but the pressure of the final round affected his performance as he suffered a double bogey and five bogies in a six over par 78.
Bourdy’s overnight two shot advantage evaporated just three holes in after the Frenchman failed to recover from finding the water and double bogeyed the second and Cabrera-Bello birdied the next.
Bourdy had led or co-led for 48 holes before being overtaken by the Spaniard on the seventh, when the former had problems in the trees and rough, but Cabrera-Bello’s troubles started either side of the turn.
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The first of the latter’s three successive errors arrived on the ninth and when he and Bourdy both dropped shots on the 11th, the Frenchman again locating the drink from the tee, Wood moved into a one shot lead.
Although Cabrera-Bello made a late surge by matching Wood with back-to-back birdies from the 15th, the 27 year old completed victory.
Wood’s fellow countrymen Robert Rock, with a six under par 66, Robert Dinwiddie and Matthew Fitzpatrick all finished on ten under.
Bourdy’s disappointing round meant he was one of three players to end six shots off the pace.
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