"I played good all week and kept myself in the hunt. Finished strong but it just quite wasn't good enough. I am quite disappointed," said the Englishman, who is still searching for a first PGA Tour victory.

"I missed a short putt on the par four 15th (for bogey) which was a big error there. But I managed to dig deep for birdie, eagle, birdie finish and thought it might be good enough to get me into a play-off. But congratulations to Ben. Hopefully I'll get my turn next time."

World number eight Donald rued two poor tee shots which cost him a chance of winning the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysia. "I gave it my all out there. I pulled my tee shot slightly on nine as I was being aggressive with my three wood and I couldn't find my ball among the trees. I made seven there which was disappointing and my bogey on 15 wasn't very good either," said the Ryder Cup star.

Singapore's Mardan made it a birthday to remember by picking up US$237,500, his biggest payday of his career. "It's is a good birthday gift but I'm a bit disappointed with my putting. I couldn't hole any putts but I was solid from tee-to-green," said Mardan, winner of two Asian Tour titles.

"I'm very happy because I worked so hard to get into this tournament and I'm very pleased to finish in the top-10. I stayed patient the whole day and couldn't hole a putt but I still kept trying and from my results this week, you can see that my patience had paid off."

Els lived up to his star billing with four closing birdies to finish in a share of fifth place on 270 and gave credit to CIMB for putting on a stellar show in the inaugural year.

"Today, I was really, from tee to green, I was on fire. I don't think I missed a green all day. I had many opportunities on the front nine and kind of got frustrated around the turn but obviously the finish was good," said the Big Easy.

"Everybody, the setting, the sponsor, all of them got involved. It was a great success. I think from now, they can take it to the next level and you know, it's a sign for the bigger names to come from the US Tour. In time, I think everybody will eventually come, I think even Tiger (Woods) and Phil (Mickelson)."

The title sponsor of the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysia is CIMB Group. CIMB Group is one of Southeast Asia's leading universal banking franchises. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur with key offices across South East Asia, CIMB Group offers a full suite of financial services and related products. Read more about CIMB Group at www.cimb.com.

Complete Round Four Scores

266 - Ben Crane (USA) 67-64-66-69

267 - Brian Davis (ENG) 65-70-66-66

268 - Luke Donald (ENG) 67-67-67-67, Martin Laird (SCO) 66-69-67-66

270 - Ryan Moore (USA) 64-68-69-69, Mardan Mamat (SIN) 66-70-65-69, D.J. Trahan (USA) 67-67-68-68, Rickie Fowler (USA) 68-67-68-67, Ernie Els (RSA) 67-68-69-66, Robert Allenby (AUS) 72-66-68-64

271 - Ricky Barnes (USA) 63-69-69-70, Siddikur (BAN) 69-68-65-69, Adam Scott (AUS) 69-65-69-68, Tom Gillis (USA) 69-66-69-67

272 - Carl Pettersson (SWE) 65-68-66-73, Kevin Streelman (USA) 69-66-67-70

273 - J.B. Holmes (USA) 73-67-66-67

274 - Charlie Wi (KOR) 65-70-70-69, Tim Clark (RSA) 67-69-69-69, K.J. Choi (KOR) 70-69-66-69

275 - Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 73-67-64-71, Kevin Na (USA) 70-71-67-67, Retief Goosen (RSA) 69-69-71-66

276 - Y.E. Yang (KOR) 72-69-66-69, Andrew Dodt (AUS) 68-75-66-67

277 - Pariya Junhasavasdikul (THA) 66-65-71-75, Arjun Atwal (IND) 68-71-69-69, Bill Haas (USA) 72-69-69-67

278 - Michael Sim (AUS) 67-69-69-73, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 66-69-74-69, Marcus Fraser (AUS) 70-72-70-66, John Senden (AUS) 71-71-71-65

279 - Ryan Palmer (USA) 72-70-65-72, Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 71-66-72-70, Marc Leishman (AUS) 70-72-69-68

280 - Noh Seung-Yul (KOR) 71-69-65-75, Heath Slocum (USA) 68-69-71-72, Tetsuji Hiratsuka (JPN) 71-70-69-70

283 - Lam Chih-Bing (SIN) 69-72-72-70

285 - Shaaban Hussin (MAS) 72-72-70-71

For further information, please call the Asian Tour's Doyle De Costa and Chuah Choo Chiang at the media centre tel: +6012 265 4700. Also visit www.asiantour.com