Ryan Fox secured his second DP World Tour title at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic, after the New Zealander drew on all of his experience to recover from a nervy start to eventually cruise to a five-shot victory at Al Hamra Golf Club.
The 35-year-old was slow out of the traps on the final day in the United Arab Emirates, while others came flying out of the blocks, but the six-stroke lead he had built in the opening three rounds helped ease the pressure before he finally found his feet.
A birdie at the eighth meant he at least reached the turn in level par and, having been only two clear of a busy chasing pack after 11 holes, he drained a huge putt at the 12th for the first of back-to-back birdies which hammered home his advantage and put the Kiwi virtually out of reach.
Fox finished in style with a birdie at the last to rubber-stamp victory with a three under 69 and a 22 under total, moving him to eighth in the DP World Tour Rankings.
Surrey’s Ross Fisher came through the pack with a pair of 66s at the weekend to clinch second place outright on 17 under while Pablo Larrazábal – who at one point looked most likely to capitalise on Fox’s shaky start – shared third place with Germany’s Hurly Long and Zander Lombard of South Africa
After picking up the winner’s trophy, Fox said: “Probably relief is the main emotion, as it was a bit of a struggle today. Sleeping on a big lead is never easy, and I didn’t sleep very well last night. A couple of the guys came at me early. I was a bit nervous, I had that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach all day, but I’m very happy with how I played, a couple of great shots coming down the stretch and it was certainly nice walking down the last with putter in hand with so many putts to win.”