Irish veteran Eamonn Darcy (48), a hero in Europe's Ryder Cup victory at Muirfield Village in 1987, was unable to conjure up the fifth place finish he needed to keep his card and ended up 137th as England's Ian Poulter capped his rookie European Tour season in style with a dramatic one-stroke victory in the Italian Open in Sardinia yesterday.

It was not for the want of trying for Darcy who with Justin Rose, Russell Claydon and Jeremy Robinson all went into the final round with a fighting chance.

However, a final round of 71 left Darcy on 274, seven shot behind Poulter in a tie for 17th place. But at least heartened by the use of a new ball in the last two events that gives him an extra 20 yards off the tee helped Darcy produce his best results of the season.

There was also disappointment for Gary Murphy who failed to retain his card for next season, finishing on 282 after a final round of 68.

Poulter birdied two of the last four holes to pip Scotland's Gordon Brand Jnr to the £97,000 first prize after trailing for much of the final day. Australian lefthander Richard Green and Spain's Francisco Cea shared third on 18 under par with English duo Peter Baker and Van Phillips a shot further back.

"It feels absolutely fantastic," said Poulter who carded a final-round 69 for a 21 under par total of 267.

Brand began the day four shots off the lead but had the lead on his own by the 10th after five birdies and looked set for his first win since 1993 when he picked up further shots on the 12th and 15th.

But he dropped his only shot of the day on the last after finding a greenside bunker to card a closing 66 and allow Poulter to gain his maiden triumph.

Poulter could only manage 12 straight pars to start his round before finally getting going with a birdie on 13 and two more on 15 and 17 eventually proved enough.

The win puts Poulter some £61,502 ahead of Scotland's Alastair Forsyth in the race to be rookie of the year and win the prestigious Henry Cotton trophy, won in the past by such famous names as Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Jose Maria Olazabal and last year by Sergio Garcia, the Spanish star also winning in his debut season.

There was some good news however with Preston's Paul Eales moving from 118th to 113th to secure his card thanks to finishing joint 12th after a final round 66 and Spain's Francisco Cea moved from 136th to 106th courtesy of his joint third place.

At the top of the Order of Merit, Lee Westwood increased his lead slightly by finishing alongside Eales, reserving his best round of the week till last with a 66.