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Sweden’s Robert Karlsson beat England’s Ian Poulter on the second playoff hole to win the Dubai World Championship, while Germany’s Martin Kaymer took home the title of European Number One as winner of this year’s Race to Dubai. England’s Lee Westwood retained his World Number One ranking after tying for third in the tournament with Spain’s Alvaro Quiros.

Poulter lead the tournament after three rounds, but Karlsson’s final round 67 brought him to -14 for the tournament, tied with Poulter, who shot a 70 in his final round. Both golfers birdied the first playoff hole, but on the second Karlsson had a three-foot birdie putt while Poulter was thirty feet away. Poulter compounded the situation by getting a one-stroke penalty for dropping his ball on his marker, basically fumbling away any chance of extending the playoff. Poulter missed his thirty-footer and settled for bogey, while Karlsson tapped in his three-footer to take home the $1.25 million first prize. Poulter settled for $833,000 as runner-up. Karlsson entered the tournament ranked 36th in the world and at 40/1 odds to win.

Kaymer became the second German to ever win the title of European Number One, joining Bernhard Langer. At just 25 years of age, Kaymer is also the youngest European Number One in over two decades. Going into the tournament, only Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell had a chance to prevent Kaymer from taking the title, but McDowell faltered over the first two rounds and never really pressured Kaymer. McDowell and Kaymer finished the tournament tied for 13th, eight shots behind Karlsson and Poulter.

“I played unbelievably well this weekend, but could barely buy a putt,” McDowell said. “It’s been a dream season and it just so happened that Martin had an unbelievable season as well. It’s just been a great year for European golf and I’m just very proud to be part of that. … To give Martin a run for his money this week was very good, but things didn’t really go my way – it’s a golf course which continues to frustrate me.”

Kaymer was one happy German after capping an impressive year. “All of the goals that I set for myself, for my career, everything happened this year,” he said. “To win The Race to Dubai, Number One in Europe, and to play The Ryder Cup, and to win a Major. And obviously when you win a Major you know that you can win any tournament in the world.”