The World No 8's magic at the final two holes at Doha Golf Club brought him a 3-under 69 for a 15-under 273 that secured him his first victory in Qatar by a breathless one shot from Australian left-hander Nick O'Hern, who closed with a 70, and by two from World No 5 Ernie Els, who came charging up the leaderboard with a 4th-round 5-under 67.

Another late charge was made by Stuart Appleby in this Aussie-South African final-day battle, in his case, a best-of-the day 66 carrying him into a 4th place tie with the event's top Brit Graham McDowell of Northern Ireland, who also opened the taps and sprinted home with a 5-under 67, and fellow Aussie Richard Green, who had shared the overnight lead with Goosen and O'Hern, but slipped back with a 72.

Defending champion Henrik Stenson struggled to a closing 71 to finish in a 7th-place tie with Argentina's Andres Romero.

In his first event in the Middle East, the 18-year-old Walker Cup star, Oliver Fisher, headed the English challenge with a joint 11th-place in a group that included the likes of the USA Ryder Cup star Chris DiMarco and former Open Champion Paul Lawrie.

The recent European Tour School qualifier moved up from 21st place at the start of the day with a 4-under 68.

But the real drama of the day came right at the back of the field when Goosen, looking to have lost his way with a bogey at 15, hit back with a birdie at 17 and walked onto the final tee a shot back from playing partner O'Hern.

At that stage the Australian left-hander looked set to break his duck on the European Tour, but it was not to be.

Goosen whisked out those three magical shots at the par five 18th to finally secure a victory he had sought for more than a year

After finding a bad lie with his drive, O'Hern could only make the final green in three, but looked to have done enough to force a play-off as he sent a long putt to within three feet to set up an easy par.

Goosen had other ideas, though and, having reached the green in two near perfect shots, nailed a breaking 40-foot putt after reading it perfectly and smashing the luckless O'Hern's hopes of finally breaking his winning duck on the European Tour.

The victory was clearly a huge relief for Goosen, who, for the first time in years, decided to work with a swing coach last year after an unhappy 2006 when his only victory came at the Volkswagen Masters-China on the Asian Tour.

"It's a great feeling to have a European Tour win under the belt again. It's been a while since I last had a win," said Goosen whose R282,743 winners cheque has lifted him to No 2 on The European Tour Order of Merit..

"Nick played great. He didn't drive it as well today as he normally does which was surprising. Obviously I never looked like winning, I thought if I could get it to 14-under I could tied with him, but I hit a great putt on the last.

"Having won this early, I'm now looking forward to the year ahead," he added.

After his bogey at 15, Goosen knew he needed something special to get back into the race.

"After the 15th, I said to my caddie, 'Colin, you know, we somehow need to get to 15 under'.

"I hit a good three wood on the 16th and went for it, but hit a poor chip shot and a poor putt.

"But then I had two great finishing holes.

On the 18th, I hadn't hit the fairway once all week, but finally I hit a good drive and hit a good three wood," said Goosen.

O'Hern was shattered. At the worst, he was expecting a play-off in front of record crowds when the South African rolled in his improbable eagle putt.

"Two up with two to play, I thought I was in good shape," said O'Hern.

"I didn't hit the ball well at all but just my short game kept the round going, which is what it's all about.

"If I would have given myself a chance to make birdie on the last I would have had a chance; but my tee shot missed the fairway by a couple of yards and I just had a horrible lie.

But if I had a wedge in my hand, I might have had a chance. I wasn't really expecting him to make eagle, but as they say, expect the unexpected. It's pretty frustrating," O'Hern added, shaking his head sadly.

Els, who started the day four back, charged up the leaderboard but even a glorious finish of three birdies over his closing four holes was not enough.

In the end missed birdie putts on 14 and 17 were crucial in thwarting his bid for a winning start to his 2007 campaign.

"You know, you can't ever give up. Golf is a crazy game as we know. You might chip it in, you might hole a second shot. Something crazy might happen so you always try to keep your options open and keep trying to give yourself a chance for a birdie or an eagle.

"I can't believe my putt missed at the 14th.

"I was a little scrappy again on the front nine. Then on the back nine I really played nicely. It was really enjoyable," said Els.

ALL THE FINAL SCORES

BankQatar Masters at Doha GC in Qatar (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

273 Retief Goosen (RSA) 65 68 71 69

274 Nick O'Hern (Aus) 66 69 69 70

275 Ernie Els (RSA) 69 71 68 67

276 Graeme McDowell 73 68 68 67, Richard Green (Aus) 68 65 71 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 70 69 71 66

277 Andres Romero (Arg) 70 71 67 69, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 68 70 71

278 Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 69 67 72 70, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 67 72 68

279 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 69 66 72, Paul Lawrie 69 67 71 72, Chris DiMarco (USA) 73 66 71 69, David Lynn 73 69 71 66, Oliver Fisher 73 68 70 68

280 Nick Dougherty 68 71 71 70, Paul McGinley 71 68 72 69, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 73 67 67 73

281 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 71 73 67, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 66 70 73 72, Ariel Canete (Arg) 69 70 72 70

282 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 70 71 70 71, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 68 75 70, Edward Michaels (USA) 68 69 69 76, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 70 69 70 73, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 70 68 72 72

283 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 71 70 71, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 70 70 70 73, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 67 73 72 71, Stephen Dodd 72 68 73 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 72 72 68 71, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 73 69 70 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 67 74 69

284 Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 73 70 73 68, Lee Westwood 71 70 72 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 70 70 71 73

285 Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 73 71 71, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 75 69 70 71, Andrew Coltart 69 73 72 71, Scott Strange (Aus) 70 71 74 70, Jong Yul Suk (Kor) 69 73 72 71, Simon Hurd 71 70 71 73, Jason Knutzon (USA) 73 71 70 71

286 Anton Haig (Rsa) 71 70 72 73, Phillip Archer 72 70 72 72, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 69 68 75 74, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 70 72 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 70 71 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 73 71 71 71, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 69 70 76 71

287 Anthony Kang (USA) 72 70 71 74, Phillip Price 70 72 73 72

288 Frankie Minoza (Phi) 75 69 73 71, Marcus Both (Aus) 71 73 74 70, Chris Rodgers 70 70 72 76, Simon Khan 72 71 74 71, Cesar Monasterio (Arg) 73 70 74 71

289 Gary Rusnak (USA) 72 71 76 70, Paul Broadhurst 71 69 74 75, Seve Benson 72 72 74 71

290 Steve Webster 71 72 73 74

291 Prom Meesawat (Tha) 71 70 75 75, David Bransdon (Aus) 70 73 74 74, Bradley Dredge 71 72 74 74

292 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 71 73 72 76, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 72 71 75 74

293 Mahal Pearce (Nzl) 70 73 75 75, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 70 71 77 75, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 71 72 74 76

294 Gary Simpson (Aus) 72 69 74 79, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 70 73 74 77

295 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 74 70 76 75

296 Kenneth Ferrie 70 74 75 77

297 Yasin Ali 69 75 78 75

304 Clay Devers (USA) 74 70 80 80