Shiv finishes creditable 11th, Fowler wins Abu Dhabi title

Shiv Kapur got off to a good start in the new year with a creditable tied-11th finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championships.
Kapur, who played the event on an invite after losing his European Tour card last year, shot a final round of two-under 70 to finish at 10-under 278.
The 27-year-old American Rickie Fowler (69) finished the week at 16-under 272 to edge out Belgian Thomas Pieters (67).
Rory McIlroy (68) finished in top-3 for the sixth time in seven years, during which he has finished second four times and third twice. With McIlroy in tied-third place was Henrik Stenson (67) at 14-under 274.

World No. One Jordan Spieth finished with a 68 to lead the group at 11 under alongside Byeong-hun An, Alejandro Canizares, Branden Grace, Joost Luiten and Marcel Siem.
Kapur, who opened the week with a none-too-good 74, played excellently over the last three rounds with rounds of 69-65-70. But for the bogey on ninth, his closing hole of the third round, which finished this morning and the double bogey he dropped on second, Kapur may well have been inside top-5.

"Still I am happy with my play and the start to the season. I put in a lot of work in off-season. I was disappointed with my play last season and sometime you need a kick like that to push you. I worked hard on my game, especially on wedge play and putting. My game tee to green was good but I was losing a lot o shots after that. This week it was better," said Kapur, who was the lone Indian in the field.

"I had 22 birdies, 20 of them in last three rounds. So to come back from a bad first round, or rather a bad finish in first round, I am happy the way I did. It was nice to finish the week with a birdie. The greens were perfect here and I loved it," he added.
On the rest of the season, he said, "If I play the way I did this week, I should get back to Europe, which is where I want to be and play there."
Five-under through 13 holes in third round, when play stopped due to fading light yesterday, Kapur came back and added two more birdies on seventh and eighth to get into top-10. A bogey on closing ninth was disappointing.

"This was a good start, hopefully I can keep it going," said Kapur, who plans to play as much as he can in Europe and also on Asian Tour.
Fowler produced two moments of magic as he held off late charges from Pieters, McIlroy and Stenson to win his second European Tour title.
The World No. 6, held a three-shot lead at the turn but while he made seven straight pars on the back nine, McIlroy came home in 31 with an eagle at the last and Stenson came back in 32 to sit one shot behind the leader in the clubhouse.

Fowler was not to be outdone. He chipped in on the 17th to open up a two-shot lead and a par up the last was enough to keep him at 16 under and win by one over Pieters, who birdied the final hole.
Fowler earlier holed from a bunker for an eagle on the eighth, immediately after a double bogey on the seventh.
"It's great field that HSBC has put together here. The course is in perfect shape. It was a lot of fun today. It was a bit stressful at times. Thomas is playing well. It's fun to kind of go head-to-head with him being in the same group. We had a good time. It's nice to come out on top this week," said Fowler.