Haotong Li nervelessly holed a clutch 15-foot birdie putt at the last to edge a thrilling final-round battle against Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and win the 2025 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters by one shot for his fourth DP World Tour title.
The Chinese star began the day with a two-shot lead and doubled his advantage early on after starting his final round with back-to-back birdies to move four clear at the top of the leaderboard.
But despite successfully bouncing back from dropped shots at the 8th and 11th with birdies on the next holes to remain at 15 under, Li was joined and then overtaken at the summit in the closing stages.
With nothing to separate Li and early clubhouse leader Neergaard-Petersen at the top as Li made his way down the last, he got up and down from a bunker, rounding off a memorable victory by pouring in his tricky birdie putt to enter the winner’s circle for the first time since June 2022.
Li finished the tournament on 16 under par after signing for a closing 69 which contained six birdies and three bogeys.
Haotong Li 🇨🇳 secured his fourth victory on the @DPWorldTour by carding rounds of 69-67-67-69 for a total of 16-under par. He clinched the win with a 15-foot putt on the final hole at the #CBQmasters, marking his first title in over 959 days since his last win at the BMW… pic.twitter.com/yeTWL6G9C2
— Dead Solid Perfect🎙️ (@Deadsolidp) February 9, 2025
Dane Neergaard-Petersen was alone in second on 15 under after his 65, with England’s Brandon Robinson-Thompson two shots further back in solo third.
South Africa’s Jayden Schaper carded 72, with three birdies and three bogeys, to share fifth on nine under.
Overnight leader Li got off to a dream start on Sunday, tapping in for a birdie at the 1st after just missing his long eagle try.
He backed that up with a second successive birdie, holing from seven feet to reach 15 under.
A series of confident par saves followed before Li made his first bogey of the day on the par-three eighth.
But he responded with a close-range birdie on the 9th to head to the turn with a two-shot lead.
Li then rode his luck in the early part of the back nine as he got a fortunate bounce off the rocks at the 10th on his way to making a par there.
A bogey followed on the 11th after Li cleared the green but he enjoyed another slice of luck on the 12th as he got a good lie in the wood chippings before his approach shot clung onto the putting surface and he made a bonus birdie from nearly 30 feet to move two in front once more.
Having just been joined at the summit by a charging Neergaard-Petersen, Li surrendered the lead altogether with a bogey on the 15th but once again managed to recover with a bounce-back birdie at the next.
He went agonisingly close to picking up another shot on the 17th but his lengthy birdie try just missed, while Neergaard-Petersen had to settle for a birdie at the last after his long eagle effort evaded the hole.
Li headed to the 18th tee knowing a birdie was required to put his name on the trophy and despite missing the green in two, he managed to get up and down from the sand for a closing birdie, winning in similar style to his previous victory at the 2022 BMW International Open, where he also holed a long putt to win.
“It means a lot,” said an emotional Li. “I never thought I could come back in this position.
“Even after yesterday, I felt like this morning was really stressed. I’m just so pleased I made that putt on the last. I’m just very glad I closed out nicely.
“I’m guaranteed to celebrate this one nicely. Definitely going to enjoy that.”
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
