SPANIARD Ignacio Garrido strode almost unopposed to his first European Tour victory in Stuttgart yesterday when he added the Volvo German Open to his already impressive list of achievements. Garrido, the 25-year-old son of former Tour player Antonio, scored a final round of 72 for a 13-under-par total of 271 to beat Russell Claydon by four strokes.

Mark James, winner of the Spanish Open in April was third, with Bernhard Langer among those sharing fourth place on 277. Philip Walton and Padraig Harrington finished alongside each other on a one-over-par 285 to share 29th position.

Garrido started the final round at Schloss Nippenburg with a five-stroke lead, but the saturated fairways and swirling wind helped to keep his challengers at bay, and he was not under pressure until the 12th.

Here Londoner Brian Davis moved within two strokes with a birdie, but at the 14th ran up a double bogey six after hitting a metal wood shot into a bush, and thereafter there were no alarms for the Madrid golfer.

Claydon with seven birdies in his first 16 holes had set a club-house target of nine below par, but that proved inadequate as the Spaniard eased through the remaining holes, and then ended on a high note by holing from 20 feet at the last for his solitary birdie.

Garrido's prize of £116,660 sterling has elevated him to sixth place in the Volvo ranking and to 13th in the Ryder Cup qualifying table, giving him the chance to follow in his father's footsteps. Antonio Garrido was a member of the 1979 European Ryder Cup team. So far the only father and son to have played in the match are Percy and Peter Alliss.

Walton closed with a 71 which he began at the 10th with his sixth two of the week by holing from eight feet after a superb seven-iron tee-shot. He added a birdie four at the 13th where after two driver shots just short of the green he chipped to within 10 feet, and again converted with his broom-handle putter.

But his euphoria swiftly evaporated when he three-putted the 14th and then again fell victim to his bogey hole, the 475-yard 16th. Walton dropped a stroke there for the fourth successive day, and the seventh time in his eight attempts.

He hit an iron from the tee into the middle of the fairway for the third time, but it was to no avail, as his four-iron approach drifted into the large bunker waiting to snare all cut approaches, from where he duly failed to get up and down.

The Malahide professional returned to level par for the day when he started home with a birdie four, this time holing from 12 feet after being in greenside sand, but there were no more successes. Eight pars in a row brought him back in 35, and hoping for better fortune in the French Open starting in Paris on Thursday.

Walton is a former French champion, and although he won at Chantilly, regards the National course near Versailles as one of his favourites.

Harrington followed three successive rounds of 71 with a 72 in which he did not manage a single birdie. His only variation from the card was a bogey at the short 17th where he found a bunker. Again it was a case of putting well without finding the target, as a total of 136 putts for the 72 holes underlined.

Harrington took 37 on the first day, 32 in each of the subsequent rounds, and 35 yesterday. "There is nothing seriously wrong with my putting," he insisted. "It was just a question of struggling to adapt from the fast greens at the US Open to the slow ones here."

He will miss the French event, and hopes to return rested and revitalised for the Murphy's Irish Open at Druid's Glen on July 3rd to 6th.

Walton and Harrington each won £5,940 but it made no appreciable difference to their Volvo Ranking position (52nd and 18th) or their placings in the Ryder Cup Qualifying table, where Walton remains outside the top 40 and Harrington is now 17th.

Neil Coles, at 62 one of the enduring talents of British golf, scored a superb closing three-under-par 69 for a seven-shot victory in the Ryder Collingtree Seniors Classic at Northampton yesterday.

The veteran of eight Ryder Cup teams summoned the vast experience of gathering 40 worldwide titles to lead from start to finish and bring in an eight-under total of 208 a tournament record.

Second place was shared by two other former Ryder Cup men on one-under 215, Nottingham club professional Brian Waites, who shot 74, and Antonio Garrido. The Spaniard, inspired by son Ignacio's win in the German Open, played his best golf of the year for an admirable closing 68.

It was Coles' third Collingtree success in five years and his winning margin equalled the European Senior Tour's record.

The Leinster Alliance golf outing for the Irish Times Shield, scheduled for Dun Laoghaire yesterday, was postponed because the course was unplayable.