Atwal reign supreme at Star Alliance Open

Germany8217;s Alex Cejka was the only player to break par on the final day with a 68 and ended tied for third, four behind Yeh, with South Africans Hendrik Buhrmann and Justin Hobday, and Sweden8217;s Stephen Lindskog.

The turning point in Atwal and Yeh8217;s battle was the par-five 15th, where Atwal, who was one behind, birdied and Yeh bogied.

Yeh hit two drivers to the left of the green on 15 but duffed a chip short and then failed to get up and down. Atwal then increased his lead by birdieing the next hole, before Yeh put the title out of his reach with a bogey on the penultimate hole.

8220;It was the toughest round of my life. I knew it was going to be tough today. Coming from Taiwan, Yeh, is such a great wind player, I knew he would be hard to beat,8221; said Atwal, 27.

He added: 8220;I wasn8217;t thinking about winning, I was just thinking about playing well, which is what I did last week when I was playing so well. I8217;ll do the same next week as well in the Johnnie Walker Classic.8221;

Yeh was consoled by the fact that he regained the Davidoff Tour Order of Merit lead from England8217;s Simon Dyson, who was not playing this week.

8220;I8217;ll take that regaining the Merit list lead. It wasn8217;t my day,8221; said Yeh, who won the season-opening Malaysian Open. Scotland8217;s Sam Torrance won the battle of the two star players after finishing a stroke ahead of Spain8217;s Seve Ballesteros.

They both carded 73 each, with Torrance finishing two-over for the tournament.

The Scot, who will captain next year8217;s European Ryder Cup team, finished off his round brilliantly by birdieing three out of the last four holes, including 17 and 18.

8220;They set the course up very hard. They were teeing us up from right off the back,8221; said Torrance. 8220;It was tough to keep your composure, it was so exposed out there but I really love the course. We don8217;t play anything like it in Europe.8221;

Ballesteros on the other hand had a terrible finish with a triple-bogey eight on the last.

After a perfect tee shot, the Spaniard was then unsettled by his playing partner Rafael Ponce who had to play a provisional ball.

Ballesteros backed off his second shot to compose himself but when he hit his four-iron it went way right into the bushes. He found his ball but had to take a drop.

Apart from his disappointing finish the 43 year old took some hope from the week.

He said: 8220;I played pretty good, a little bit better, apart from three or four holes.8221;

Leading Scorers: 268- Arjun Atwal Ind 65, 63, 68, 72; 270- Yeh Wei-Tze Twn 65, 65, 66, 74; 274- Justin Hobday Rsa 70, 64, 66, 74, Hendrik Buhrmann Rsa 71, 66, 65, 72, Alex Cejka Ger 71, 67, 68, 68, Stephen Lindskog Swe 65, 73, 66, 70; 275- Scott Hend Aus 67, 66, 71, 71; 276- Lin Chien-Bing Twn 68, 67, 68, 73; 277- Hsieh Yu-Shu Twn 70, 69, 65, 73; 278- Cameron Percy Aus 71, 66, 66, 75 and Soren Hansen Den 71, 67, 68, 72; 279- Prayad Marksaeng Tha 70, 67, 65, 77; 280- Marc Farry Fra 70, 64, 69, 77; 281- Adrian Percey Aus 72, 68, 65, 76.