GRAEME STORM carded one of the finest rounds of the day to climb up the leaderboard in the Qatar Masters yesterday.

The Hartlepool golfer's 69, three under par, was bettered only by winner Ernie Els (65) and his fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen (68) at the Doha course.

Storm had been steady in the first three rounds, shooting 71, 71, 72, but he stepped up a gear yesterday and had a flawless card.

His reward for finishing 12th, courtesy mainly of the birdies he made at the fifth, 11th and 17th, was £12,500.

Storm, enjoying life back on the European Tour, has only failed to make one cut from his first ten events, surviving all eight since the turn of the year.

The 26-year-old's latest impressive display has pushed him up to 27th in the Volvo Order of Merit and he can boast a total of over £66,000 already this term.

Storm, who stayed in the Gulf after a similarly good outing in Dubai last week, ended on a five under par total of 283, seven shots behind Els, who was himself five adrift at the start of the day.

Els followed up his dramatic victory in the Dubai Desert Classic with another remarkable success.

He was six shots behind with 15 holes remaining but pipped Sweden's Henrik Stenson by one.

The stunning seven-birdie comeback made the South African, who had been down in 81st place after an opening 73, the first player to win back-to-back titles on the European Tour since Vijay Singh in 2001.

In Dubai, Els had rolled in an 18-foot eagle putt on the final green to snatch victory. This time a two-putt birdie on the last won him the trophy, although there was a long wait before he could celebrate.

Stenson and Australian Richard Green would have forced a play-off with an eagle on the 581-yard 18th. But doing an 'Ernie' proved beyond them - Green hit a bad drive and took six; then Stenson failed to hole his chip from the back edge.

''Normally when you aim at a low score you don't do it. But here I did - and with two wins under my belt, now I can't wait to get to America,'' said Els.

After stopping off briefly in England - ''to give my kids a hug'' - Els flies to Florida today for the Bay Hill Invitational, Players' Championship then the Masters at Augusta.

That is the title the world number three craves more than any other (Phil Mickelson beat him by one last year), and he added: ''I really feel good, but you can't get cocky in this game. You've just got to shoot the numbers.''

Just like last week - when leader Miguel Angel Jimenez three-putted the last - it again took some help from those he was chasing for him to win.