EDDIE Pepperell admits it is a relief to have secured a first European Tour title – and says he was proud of ‘winning ugly’.

The Frilford Heath member enjoyed a one-shot victory over Oliver Fisher in yesterday’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.

Pepperell carded a closing 70 at Doha GC to finish on 18-under-par and edge out playing partner Fisher, who missed from ten feet for birdie on the last to force a play-off.

“I felt good all day,” he admitted. “I was in a great place mentally and kept telling myself I’m going to win this – but Oli certainly made life more interesting.

“Relief I guess is the number one emotion. I guess it will give me that confidence.

“I’ve always believed I would win out here but it hadn’t happened before today. You have to take that step and it’s not easy, but hopefully this is not my last.”

The Abingdon ace said he always felt confident this would be his tournament, although did not think he was at his best.

“My course management was very good,” he said. “Mick (Doran, his caddie) was fantastic on that front and I had to just play to my strengths today which I felt were my wedge play and my putting.

“The rest didn’t feel quite in the same spot where I’ve been the last few days. That was a bit of an ugly win and I’m quite proud of that.”

He added: “I was super-confident today, I won’t lie. I said to my friend Laurie Canter, walking out of the room this morning, it’s an inevitability.

“I don’t wish to sound arrogant, I just wanted to sound confident, because I felt confident enough that I was going to win.

“I tried to just keep that mentality all through the round and I think having someone like Mick on the bag as well, can power you on and re-enforce that because he’s a guy who knows how to get wins.

“Sometimes the margins are so fine between second, and third and a win.

“It’s tough to win out here but it’s also tough to be consistently a top-ten or top-five player.

“By and large I’ve achieved that quite well in my career, I’ve just never managed to win.”