European Tour: It was finally the day of the Jacquelin on the European Tour yesterday - after no fewer than 27 top-10 finishes.

France's Raphael Jacquelin, competing in his 238th event, captured his first title at the Madrid Open, beating Scotland's Paul Lawrie by three with a closing-round 69.

The 31-year-old from Lyon was showered in champagne by fellow French players after breaking his duck with a tournament record 23-under-par total of 261.

Ireland's Darren Clarke and Denmark's Anders Hansen shared third place and Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam was fifth, while Colin Montgomerie stretched his Order of Merit lead over Michael Campbell to €153,487 by finishing joint eighth - but ended his week missing a 12-inch tap-in and tossing away his putter.

Ireland's Damien McGrane finished in a share of 34th place after a final round of level par 71 left him on eight-under-par 276 while Gary Murphy was three shots back on 279 after finishing with a 72.

Jacquelin took a seven-stroke lead, the biggest of the season, into the final day after three sparkling rounds of 64.

No one has ever lost from such a position in the circuit's history, but there looked a chance of it happening when Lawrie, eight behind at the start, went to the turn in 31 and cut the gap to three.

Still fresh in the Aberdeen golfer's mind is the day at Carnoustie six years ago when he cancelled out a 10-stroke deficit on Jean Van de Velde and won the Open in a play-off, but it was not to be.

Although he added further birdies at the 12th and 15th for a joint best-of-the-day 64 Lawrie never got any closer, Jacquelin's birdie putts of eight feet on the 11th and 12 feet at the long 14th giving him a cushion over the closing stretch.

"It feels fantastic," said the Tour's newest champion. "I've been waiting for the first win for many years and it was tough today.

"When my lead was down to only three it was even more difficult, but I just tried to hang in and give myself some chances for birdie."

Lawrie, runner-up for the second time this year, commented: "Raphael has played so well that second place is like winning.

"I had a horrible end of 2003 and 2004 and to finish second twice is a huge upturn."

Clarke's putting let him down badly. He missed four putts of seven feet or less in the first 10 holes and also failed to make a 12-footer for eagle at the fourth and 10-footer for birdie at the next.

A brilliant second shot to two feet did give him an eagle on the seventh and when Jacquelin bogeyed the next it did not look all over for the Ulsterman. But a bogey of his own at the 12th left him too much ground to make up.

While a closing 66 looks decent enough on paper for Monty, it contained three tiny misses and he did not seem to care what happened to his putter after discarding it over a railing on the way to signing his card.

In the event it was picked up and handed to caddie Alastair McLean, who put it back in the bag. Whether it is still there for the Volvo Masters in two weeks' time remains to be seen.

Only Campbell and Retief Goosen, now €326,345 behind, can deny him a record eighth Order of Merit title - and first since 1999 - at Valderrama.

The New Zealander has to finish in the first five just to have a chance, while Goosen must be first or second.

Madrid Final Totals

at Club de Campo, Madrid, Spain

(Irish in bold, British unless stated, par 71): (x) denotes amateur

261 - Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 64 64 64 69 (€166,660)

264 - Paul Lawrie 68 66 66 64 (€111,110)

266 - Anders Hansen (Den) 67 69 66 64, Darren Clarke (NIrl) 64 67 68 67 (€56,800 each)

267 - Ian Woosnam 69 65 68 65 (€42,400).

268 - Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 69 68 64, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 66 66 67 69.

269 - Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 68 67 65, David Lynn 69 69 65 66, Colin Montgomerie 72 66 65 66.

270 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 64 66 68.

271 - Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 67 69 70 65, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 70 65 66, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 66 68 66, Andrew Marshall 70 68 65 68, David Park 68 67 67 69, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 69 66 69, Stuart Little 67 66 68 70.

272 - Garry Houston 68 71 68 65, Mark Roe 63 72 69 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 67 64 69, Alastair Forsyth 66 71 67 68.

273 - Brad Kennedy (Aus) 68 72 66 67, Fernando Roca (Spa) 69 68 70 66, Mark Foster 69 69 68 67, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 65 66 68, Oliver Wilson 69 68 70 66, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 63 76 65 69, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 67 71 65 70.

275 - Christopher Hanell (Swe) 69 68 70 68, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 68 70 68, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 67 69 72 67, Gary Emerson 67 64 73 71.

276 - Ian Garbutt 69 64 74 69, Stuart Manley 68 70 68 70, Damien McGrane (Irl) 68 66 71 71, Carlos De Corral (Spa) 71 66 68 71, Johan Skold (Swe) 69 68 68 71, Simon Wakefield 73 67 69 67, Steve Webster 72 68 69 67, Ivo Giner (Spa) 75 60 68 73, Phillip Archer 70 67 66 73.

277 - Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 66 70 71.

278 - Stephen Gallacher 69 67 71 71, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 67 68 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 67 70 70 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 67 69 69 73, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 69 67 72 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 69 69 71 69, Brett Rumford (Aus) 66 71 67 74, Scott Drummond 70 67 74 67.

279 - Graeme Storm 66 68 73 72, Gary Murphy (Irl) 70 69 68 72, Anthony Wall 68 69 70 72, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 71 68 71, Philip Golding 74 65 70 70, David Drysdale 72 67 70 70, Simon Khan 68 69 72 70, Richard Bland 73 66 71 69.

280 - Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 67 71 72, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 69 71 71 69, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 69 70 73 68.

281 - Santiago Luna (Spa) 69 69 68 75, Johan Axgren (Swe) 70 70 70 71, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 68 75 69.

282 - Neil Cheetham 70 67 70 75, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 70 70 74, David Carter 70 70 70 72, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 66 70 74 72, (x) Jorge Mazario (Spa) 69 71 72 70, Miles Tunnicliff 71 69 73 69.

284 - Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 68 70 74.

285 - Costantino Rocca (Ita) 71 69 74 71, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 70 69 75 71.

286 - Rolf Muntz (Ned) 72 67 72 75.