• Volvo Tournament of Champions, Round Four

Casey wins with clutch putt at the last

Paul Casey celebrates victory with caddie Christian Donald © Getty Images

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Paul Casey outlasted Peter Hanson at the death to win the Volvo Tournament of Champions event in Bahrain, clinching a one-shot victory on the 72nd hole of the tournament.

Tied atop the leaderboard with the Swede coming to the 18th, Casey managed to get up-and-down where his opponent failed to card a 68 and win with a 20-under par total.

It was an afternoon of real drama at The Royal Golf Club, with the top of the leaderboard packed throughout and two men left to fight for the title only really managing to separate themselves from the pack over the final few holes.

It was always likely to be Casey and Hanson who edged themselves clear of the field, the duo successfully capitalising on the overnight lead they had handed themselves. Both men picked up a number of birdies around the turn that gave them an advantage, and then scrambled to save shots as the wind began to pick up during the back nine.

Casey was not impeccable by any stretch of the imagination, hitting very wayward shots on both the ninth and 17th and needing a ruling to get relief on both occasions. He escaped those situations without penalty, however (even grabbing a birdie on the former), showing an ability to score from awkward situations that would be in evidence throughout a tense tussle with Hanson.

Coming to the 18th tied at 20-under, both men flirted with watery graves from the tee - with Hanson's aggressive play with the driver particularly fortunate not to find worse trouble than some deep rough. Casey may have just found the fairway, but the pressure was clearly taking its toll as he leaked his approach right of the green.

Hanson followed suit from a poor lie, gaining something of a break as his ball trickled into the bunker. But he could not get up-and-down from the seven-footer he left himself, allowing Casey to hole his own five-footer and clinch the title.

"It feels fantastic," Casey said afterwards. "That was one of the toughest battles I've ever had. It was an extremely difficult golf course today, it was treacherous on the back half with the wind getting up. I'm very happy to come out on top."

The Englishman professed not to feel the pressure as he stood over his final putt.

"I just know I've got a putt to win," he said. "I was lucky to have that putt to win. I played very good golf today. When I did miss shots I missed them in the right place, and when I had the chance to win I took it."

The pair were helped by the fact their nearest challengers after the third round, Darren Clarke and James Kingston, failed to continue their low scoring when they most needed it. Clarke's round of 73, compounded by a double-bogey on the last, saw him fall back into the chasing pack to finish in a tie for ninth, while the pressure seemed to get to Kingston who shot a two-over round of 74.

In the end it was Miguel Angel Jimenez who sneaked in to grab a tie for second with Hanson, the Spaniard - who on Friday managed to card a 65 despite breaking his putter early on the back nine - hitting his shot on the last to eight-feet and holing the putt to record 67 for the day and a 19-under total.

A 67 from Stephen Gallacher saw the Scot finish strongly on 18-under, edging out Robert Karlsson by one despite the Swede's impressive 66. Johan Edfors' 69 saw the tournament's early leader finish in a tie for sixth, joined by South Korea's Seung-yul Noh - who profited from a bogey-free final round 65 to also finish at 16-under.

Richard Finch and Soren Kjeldsen tied for the lowest rounds of the day with blistering scores of 63 - elevating both men into the top-25 - but such scoring was not required for Casey, as he kept his cool under pressure to clinch victory.

"It's nice [to win], because I was starting to think Christian Donald [his caddie] was a curse!" said Casey, who has seen his former caddie Craig Connelly go on to win a major with Martin Kaymer while he had previously not won for 21 months. "Christian caddied brilliantly, it is a good partnership and hopefully this is the first of many wins."

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