2013 European Tour Golf: Peter Hanson Shoots 63 on Sunday But Fails In Title Defense

Defending champion at The BMW Masters presented by SRE Group, Peter Hanson, fired a 63 on Sunday at the Lake Malaren Golf Club in Shanghai, but it was not enough to overcome the 79 he shot on Thursday. He came up four shots shy of 2013 tournament winner, Gonzalo FDEZ-Costano, who played brilliantly throughout the weekend except for the double bogey he made at the final hole.

Costano had a bogey-free round going on Sunday afternoon, and a three-shot lead when he teed off on the 18th hole. He narrowly escaped with a one-shot victory over Italian, Francesco Molinari, and Tongchai Jaidee from Thailand. The 33 year-old Spaniard had it on cruise control for the large part of the afternoon getting six birdies on his scorecard before the disaster at 18.

The second win of the year for the 60th ranked player in the world pushed him into fourth place in Race To Dubai standings. and makes him a real threat to win it all in Dubai next month. He played well during his loop on the PGA Tour this year, but was unable to get a win. He finished in first place at The Seve Trophy earlier in the month.

Early tournament leader, Luke Guthrie could never re-capture the magic he had on Thursday when he fired a 65 to take the early lead for the first tournament of the Race To Dubai Championship. He didn’t play badly, just not good enough to win. The youngster from the University of Illinois finished alone in third place one stroke behind Molinari, and Jaidee.

American, Peter Uihlein who has played the entire 2013 season on the European Tour made some noise on Saturday, but finished in a tie for fifth place with Thomas Bjorn from Denmark, and Pablo Larrazabal from Spain at eight under par.

Race To Dubai points leader, Henrik Stenson finally got on track Sunday, shooting a final round 65. He showed up in Shanghai with physical problems and some rust on his game after his FedEx Cup run. He finished at two over par for the tournament, but couldn’t overcome a 79 on Saturday to ever make a serious run at the title.

With his win at Lake Malaren, Gonzalo FDEZ Costano moved into fourth place in the Race to Dubai just behind US Open Champion, Justin Rose. Tongchai Jaidee moved into sixth place with his fine finish on Sunday. Graeme McDowell remains in second place, and South African, Richard Sterne rounds out the top five.

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