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Rose wins title after playoff

04/11/2007

Justin Rose came out on top in a three-way playoff to win the Volvo Masters and his first European Tour Order of Merit title.

The 27-year-old Englishman shot a three-over-par 74 in the final round at Valderrama in Spain, taking a disastrous seven on the par-four 11th.

Further bogeys on the 13th and 14th saw him drop more shots and his only birdie of the back nine, a four on the par-five 17th, was cancelled out by a five at the last.

Despite his erratic round, six shots behind his second-round best in the tournament, Rose had done enough to secure the European Tour Order of Merit title as rival Padraig Harrington slipped back to one over.

In the playoff, pars from Rose and title contenders Soren Kjeldsen and Simon Dyson sent the trio to a second hole. All three had chances with putts of roughly the same distance, but Rose was the only one to hole his effort.

Speaking afterwards, Rose admitted he had been through a "hard day" and had "dug deep" to see himself through.

"There must be an easier way of doing this," he added.

Lower down the leaderboard Colin Montgomerie shot a poor 79, slipping from tied-fourth to tied-17th.

The Scot's five bogies and two double-bogies helped him to a final tournament score of 13 over par.