Spanish Ryder Cup vice-captain Miguel Angel Jimenez won the battle of the kidney-stone patients in Majorca yesterday, but Paul McGinley was left to dissect a final-round collapse after sharing the lead in the Turespana Masters.

Jimenez eventually came out on top as him and fellow kidneystone sufferer Miguel Martin seemed to be holding on to the title chance in the final round with forceps.

They passed the lead to each other seven times during the course of a windy round, which obviously jangled the nerves. And while they juggled, McGinley joined them on top after birdieing the 13th, having accelerated up alongside them with an exhilarating display to come through the field.

But then, just like he had in the third round, the Dubliner fell off the leaderboard with a frustrating and disappointing finish, bogeying the 15th and 16th holes to slip back to a share of third place in the end.

Closing with a one-under-par 71 on six-under-par with Japanese Katsuyoshi Tomori to end three strokes behind winner Jimenez and two adrift of Martin, the Dubliner admitted his finish as poor.

"I finished the round much as I'd done all week. I didn't play the last six holes at all well and that cost me dearly in the end."

McGinley pocketed £19,705 but gained much more than that from the week. "It was disappointing to finish like that but I got a lot out of deciding to change my mind and get a late invitation to Majorca. I had four rounds of good competitive golf and I got myself into contention. I hope that will stand me in good stead for the really big tournaments coming up now."

He could have gone to the lucrative Benson and Hedges International this week with a confidence-boosting third European Tour success, but for twice dropping two crucial late shots at the weekend. On Saturday he bogeyed two of the last three holes to give himself more to make up yesterday.

This time it was the 16th and 17th holes which proved his undoing. McGinley chipped in again at the first from a similar spot and distance as he had the day before, three-putted the next to give the stroke back. But then he sank a 15-footer and then a tap-in on the sixth to get within one shot of a lead which seemed to be changing hands by the minute behind him between Jimenez and Martin.

As fortunes changed like the wind, though, suddenly he was three behind when he bogeyed the short seventh after going through the green. Then, though, McGinley turned on the heat after the turn. On the 11th he sank a six-footer and then made a brilliant recovery on the 13th for another birdie. Here, his ball took an amazing ricochet off the crusty green down on to a road but after he chipped 30ft past the flag, his perfectly weighted putt ended with his ball tipping almost in slow-motion into the cup. That took him level with Jimenez and Martin on eight-under-par but it was if that defiant birdie on the 13th put the hex on his fortunes and signalled the end of his challenge. He rode his luck on the 14th but at the next hole missed the green and could not get down from 20ft. At the 16th his frustration must have been at its height as he nearly pitched in but then missed a two-foot putt for the second bogey which ended his assault on the Spaniards.

Remarkably both the men from Spain had needed emergency treatment during the week. But it was Jimenez who in the end proved superior when his birdie on the 17th, despite driving alongside bushes, finally ended the tense see-saw struggle between the home favourites.