Peter Hanson In The Bag: BMW Masters Winning Clubs

Peter Hanson held off a late charge from Rory McIlroy to win the BMW Masters in Shanghai by one-shot and move up to second on the Race To Dubai money list. 

The 35-year-old took a one-shot lead into the final round and managed to maintain his narrow advantage to claim his sixth European Tour victory.

Hanson streched out his lead to four with five to play, but McIlroy eagled the 15th, birdied the 16th and had a makeable putt at the last, that he missed, to force a play-off

Luke Donald and Ian Poulter, two more of Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup team, finished third and fourth.

Ireland’s Shane Lowry was a further shot back in fifth, with Paul Casey posting his second successive top-six finish in a tie with fellow Englishman Justin Rose, South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and George Coetzee, and Alex Noren.

The Swede’s winning cheque of £720,000 lifts him into second place in the money list, but McIlroy has extended his lead at the top to boost his chances of emulating Donald’s achievement in 2011 of winning both the European and PGA Tour money lists in the same year.

The tournament was all set for a nervy finish as Hanson found sand on the 17th, but a brave 15-footer helped maintain his slender lead going up the last. But the new world number 17 still had a scary moment on the 18th when his approach to the last plugged in the bank of a bunker.

After being refused relief, he did well to chip to 10-feet and two putt for bogey for a 67. It was good enough after McIlroy, who also posted a 67, had just missed his 15-foot birdie attempt from the back fringe.

“I played a little bit too defensively but it all worked out in the end,” said Hanson. “To go head-to-head with the world number one is always nice, but to come out on top feels great. This is by far my biggest win as we had so many guys in the world’s top-10 here.”

McIlroy, who is not playing at next week’s World Golf Championship event in China, where another Hanson victory would lift him above McIlroy in the money list, had to settle for his ninth second-place finish on the European Tour. “I didn’t get the best of starts but it started coming together over the back nine,” said the 23-year-old.

“I was aiming to make him work for it. It would have been nice to hole that putt on the last to have him think a little bit but it wasn’t to be. He played well and deserved his win.”

Poulter got to within three shots of Hanson after picking up three strokes in his first seven holes and holing birdies at the 10th, 11th and 13th to join McIlroy, who had dropped two shots early on before fighting back, on 15 under par. The Ryder Cup star sank another birdie on the 15th to reach 16-under before a missed 10-footer on the 16th ended his challenge and carded a seven-under 65. 

European Tour ‘Race to Dubai’ 2012 money list

1. Rory McIlroy (NI) – 3,407,300 euros
2. Peter Hanson (Swe) – 2,594,728 euros
3. Justin Rose (Eng) – 2,518,527 euros
4. Branden Grace (SA) – 2,028,216 euros
5. Louis Oosthuizen (SA) – 1,887,506 euros

Here are the clubs that Peter Hanson used to win in China:

Driver: TaylorMade R11S 9°
Fairway Woods: TaylorMade Burner Superfast 13.5°
Hybrid: Rescue 11 TP 18°
Irons: TaylorMade TP MB 3-PW
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design
Putter: TaylorMade Ghost Spider S
Ball: TaylorMade Penta TP
Footwear: adidas Tour 360 ATV