Haotong Li won the 2025 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters with a birdie at the 72nd hole to edge past Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen by one stroke.
Li, who shot 69 on Sunday and briefly enjoyed a four-stroke advantage early on, had made par at the 18th hole in each of the first three rounds but ended up draining an intimidating 15 foot putt to reach 16-under and claim a fourth DP World Tour triumph.
The winning moment sparked emotional scenes from the 29-year-old, who tossed his putter down and let out multiple roars of delight before embracing his caddie. Speaking afterwards, Li said: “It means a lot. 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.” Li opened with two birdies in the opening pair of holes and temporarily held a four-stroke lead – suggesting it would be a relatively serene journey back towards the winner’s circle, having last reigned supreme at the 2022 BMW International Open. However, playing partner, Brandon Robinson Thompson and fellow challenger, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen refused to go quietly – with the latter charging hard, in particular. Neergaard-Petersen made gains at the third, fourth and fifth holes before adding another two immediately before and after the turn. With Robinson Thompson just faltering slightly over the back nine, the Dane emerged as Li’s toughest opponent. The Chinese player’s driver was not aiding his chances of victory as he regularly missed fairways, but a couple of fortunate breaks pointed to it always being Li’s day. And on the three occasions where he made bogey, they were immediately followed by birdies each time. However, it looked as though Li’s luck has run out when Neergaard-Petersen birdied the most difficult hole of the day, the 15th, via a stunning approach while he bogeyed the same hole moments later. It was not to be for the 25-year-old, though, as a painful lip out for par at the par-3 17th ultimately gave Li a chance to win it in regulation – an opportunity he took with both hands. England’s Robinson Thompson finished solo third on 13-under ahead of France’s Antoine Rozner in fourth on 10-under. South Africa’s Jayden Schaper, England’s Ben Schmidt and France’s Martin Couvra all shared fifth place on nine-under-par