In an exciting climax to the 2014 European Tour season, Henrik Stenson came through with some late fireworks to successfully defend his 2013 title at the DP World Tour Championship.  For most of the week Stenson did as he had done for much of 2014, lingering around the edges of contention but not necessarily looking like a winner.  And indeed, the event seemed to be following the season’s general trend when world number one Rory McIlroy, returning from a six-week break, began his first round with birdies on four of his first five holes and eventually posted a 66, good enough to tie for the Thursday lead with Shane Lowry.  McIlroy’s play would be somewhat uneven thereafter, however, with a Friday 70 leaving him tied with Scotland’s Richie Ramsay and England’s Danny Willett, two shots behind Stenson, who added a 66 of his own to an opening 68.  The 38-year-old Swede remained atop the board after carding a Saturday 68, only now he was tied with Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who’d opened with a 73 before charging back with middle rounds of 64-65, the former sparked by a run of five straight birdies to open the day.  But the story of this week was told mostly on Sunday as a wide range of world-class players found themselves squarely in the mix in the late going.  Initially it looked to be Cabrera-Bello’s day, particularly after Stenson double-bogeyed the 401-yard 11th to fall two behind.  But the 30-year-old from the Canary Islands then missed a short par putt at the 476-yard 12th and, like Stenson, failed to birdie both the par-5 14th and the 371-yard 15th.  This allowed McIlroy (who birdied both of those scoring holes), Rose (who birdied those, plus the 16th), France’s Victor Dubuisson (who came home in 33) and even a hard-charging Robert Karlsson (who collapsed by three-putting from three feet at the last) all back into the fray – a fray which soon excluded Cabrera-Bello after he logged watery double-bogeys at both the 16th and 17th.  But with a high-powered multi-man playoff looming, Stenson stepped up, stiffing his approach at the par-3 17th, then adding another birdie at the par-5 closer to win by two.  There was rather less excitement in the Race to Dubai bonus pool standings, however, as McIlroy’s epic campaign had clinched that season-long contest before this event even began………………In an event which clearly saw youth come to the fore, 22-year-old PGA Tour regular Hideki Matsuyama made his first domestic start since July count by winning the prestigious Dunlop Phoenix, edging countryman Hiroshi Iwata in a playoff.  A winner at Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament earlier in the year, Matsuyami started with a relatively quiet 68 here before jumping into the halfway lead behind a Friday 64 which included six birdies, plus an eagle at the par-5 18th.  Thus standing one ahead of a quartet of pursuers (one of whom was 21-year-old American star Jordan Spieth), Matsuyama then posted a bogey-free 67 on Saturday to extend the lead to two over Spieth and three over Australian Brendan Jones.  But neither Spieth (69) nor Jones (68) could mount a major charge on Sunday, while the red-hot Iwata certainly did, coming home with five late birdies for a 63, and a 269 total.  As Matsuyama stumbled with bogeys at both the 15th and 16th, Iwata looked a likely winner - but showing truly championship form, Matsuyama recorded clutch birdies at the 185-yard 17th and the 560-yard 18th to tie, then closed Iwata out on the first extra hole………………At age 47, winless since 2012 and in danger of losing his Asian Tour card, Singapore’s Mardan Mamat was looking at a murky future prior to the Resorts World Manila Masters, but all of that turned around over an impressive wire-to-wire victory at the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club.  Mamat’s week began with a bang as he birdied four of his first seven holes en route to a seven-under-par 65, good enough to hold a share of the lead with Japan’s Daisuke Kataoka, who opted to play here over his home circuit’s Dunlop Phoenix event.  Kataoka would fade to a 73 on Friday, however, leaving Mamat to post a 68 and now share the top spot with South Korean Jeung-Hun Wang, who managed nine birdies (against two bogeys) in carding a 65.  Mamat was not to be headed on the weekend, however, as he opened Saturday’s third round with four consecutive birdies and never looked back, eventually returning a 66 that gave him a four-shot lead over Kiradech Aphibarnrat and five over Lionel Weber of France.  He then turned in two-uder-par 34 on Sunday before cruising home to a 69, and a runaway six-shot victory………………In the first of Australia’s three major winter events, 30-year-old veteran Nick Cullen ended world number two Adam Scott’s quest for a third consecutive gold jacket by coming out of nowhere to edge Scott, Josh Younger and James Nitties at the BetEasy Australian Masters.  Cullen entered the week ranked 539th in the world and with only a single previous homeland victory on his résumé, the 2013 Queensland Open.  But on a weekend which saw halfway leader Michael Wright shoot 74-80 (plummeting all the way to a T46), Cullen posted a Saturday 66 to pull within two of 54-hole leader Paul Spargo, then jumpstarted an up-and-down final round with an eagle at the par-5 4th.  He would ultimately record a key sand save at the 18th to post a 69, then look on as Scott made three late birdies before lipping out for a fourth on the final green that would have forced sudden death.  Nitties also failed to card a desperately needed late birdie, while Younger birdied the 16th and 18th in order to creep within one.