England’s Ross McGowan won his debut European Tour title at the Madrid Masters on Sunday by three shots from Mikko Ilonen of Finland.
McGowan followed up Saturday’s remarkable third round of 60 with a 71 to finish with a 25-under par total of 263 and go second in the points race for the Ryder Cup.
For Ilonen, a former British Open amateur champion, there was compensation for missing out on first prize as he secured his Tour card for next season.
PHOTO: AFP
Seven clear after the third round at Centro Nacional, the 27-year-old saw that advantage cut to only two by Ilonen with four to play.
But a 10-foot birdie putt at the 15th eased his worries about blowing the biggest lead of the season.
Even then McGowan was lucky on the par-five last when his second shot was pulled and finished on wooden sleepers just above the lake.
He was able to save par to win.
“I came here this week in form and it’s lovely to come away with the trophy,” he said.
“Once I saw where some of the pins were it was a lot trickier and my game-plan was to hit as many greens as I could.
“It means a lot to win — that’s another goal out of the way and hopefully from here I can progress and move on to bigger things.”
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