Jayden Schaper drew a line under a recent spell of indifferent scores on Sunday with a bogey-free closing seven-under-par 65 in the DP World Tour’s Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club.

South Africa’s number one player had made nine bogeys in the previous three rounds, and while he was not in dire straits in the tournament at four-under-par, it seemed he was feeling the effects of a comedown after his purple patch at the end of last year.

That all stopped with three birdies in the first four holes in the final round, and, this time, he didn’t drop any as he made four more birdies on the back nine, including three in the last five holes.

And, while he may have surrendered his number one spot on the Race to Dubai rankings to Patrick Reed, who won for the second time in three weeks, the turnaround in his form will set him up nicely to stay inside the world’s top 50 in the run-up to the Masters. Doing that would assure him of a trip up Magnolia Lane at Augusta National at the beginning of April.

The American Reed, who won January’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic and was beaten in a play-off at last week’s Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship, held off a final-day challenge from Calum Hill and Oliver Lindell with a winning total of 16-under-par.

Hill, the other man beaten in that play-off as Freddy Schott won in Bahrain, finished second on 14-under for a second consecutive runner-up finish, one shot ahead of Reed’s playing partner Jacob Skov Olesen and Johannes Veerman.

Reed said: “This little run I’ve had, two wins and a second, it’s awesome. We couldn’t ask anything more than what we did. It’s special, to come out here especially to get two wins early on in the season, and hopefully there’s a lot more to come.”

Richard Sterne finished two strokes behind Schaper on nine-under-par in a share of 15th, with amongst others, Hennie du Plessis, while Dylan Frittellis as in a share of 20th on eight-under.