Doha, Qatar: Peter Uihlein proved too strong for his rivals at the US$2.5 million International Series Qatar, marching to a five-shot victory at Doha Golf Club.

The American, the leader since day two, shot a final round three-under-par 69 to finish on 16-under, for his second victory on The International Series this year. The result also saw him move to number one on The International Series Rankings.

South African Charl Schwartzel came home in second place after a 68, while his close friend and compatriot Louis Oosthuizen tied for third two shots back with Filipino Miguel Tabuena.

Oosthuizen fired a 71 and Tabuena a 70 in what was the penultimate event of the season on the Asian Tour and The International Series.

American John Catlin tied for 19th after a 71 to wrap up the Asian Tour Order of Merit title with one event remaining, next week’s US$5 million PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Advisers. He is now second on The International Series Rankings having led for most of the year.

Uihlein’s one-stroke lead at the start of the day became four at the turn. He was coasting before Schwartzel, playing three groups ahead, made a late charge with birdies on 16 and 17. Uihlein holed a clutch putt for par from 12 feet on 15 to leave the gap at three, and then birdied on 16 and 18 to put the icing on the cake.

It was an impressive finish considering the wind was up again and the greens were hard and fast.

He said: “It was a good day. It was a very solid weekend. I think I only missed a total of five greens for the weekend around here. When the wind is blowing, that’s pretty good. I felt pretty solid, felt in control.

“The putt on 15 was nice, to get up and down there. I tried to do a little different mindset for me this week, at least on the back nine. I saw the board, and that I had a four-shot lead, and I was basically just trying to play match play against the golf course and par was a good score. I felt if I could beat the back nine, I was going to be in good position. So, making those birdies at the end was nice for my little mini goal.”

Uihlein claimed the International Series England in August by the sizeable margin of seven shots for his maiden title on the Asian Tour and The International Series.

It looked like he was also going to win the International Series Thailand two months later, but he bogeyed the final hole to hand victory to Lee Chieh-po from Chinese-Taipei.

His victory in Qatar is redemption for that near miss and gives the Range Goats GC player a chance of winning the rankings next week, although with a wealth of points on offer the race is wide open.

He said: “I feel like my game is trending, it’s just getting better. Stuff I’ve been working on feels like it’s getting easier under the gun. But it’s 1,000 points to the winner next week so it’s all still up in the air.”

Schwartzel’s round, which started with an eagle on the par-five first, was the lowest of the day.

“It was a fantastic putting round. I made so many feet of putts,” said the 2011 Masters champion.

“It was tough again. The wind hasn’t stopped blowing for the last three days. The golf course has been quite penalising when you miss the fairways and it’s hard to hit the fairways with the crosswinds. So, it was always going to be a grind, and I needed a good putting round.”