European Tour: Jose Maria Olazabal took a big leap towards a seventh Ryder Cup cap by ending more than three-and-a-half years without a victory at the Mallorca Classic yesterday.
The 39-year-old, only one ahead overnight, charged four clear with a superb front nine of 31, stretched that to six after 11 holes and ended up taking the €250,000 first prize by five shots.
Olazabal, who took added satisfaction in the win from the fact he is in the process of re-designing the Pula course, finished with a round of 66 for a 10-under-par total of 270.
Second were defending champion Sergio Garcia, fellow Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara and England's Paul Broadhurst, whose level-par final round of 70 cost him the chance of a second win of the season.
Damien McGrane closed with a disappointing 73 to finish on four over and tied for 48th.
But that was nevertheless good enough to get him into the field for next week's season-ending Volvo Masters, for which only the top 60 in the order of merit are eligible: McGrane got the 60th spot.
The only other Irishman in Mallorca, Gary Murphy, who had opened with a 66 on Thursday, had a weekend to forget, shooting 78 on Saturday and 76 yesterday to finish dead last on 14 over par.
Olazabal is now fourth in the cup standings, with Garcia second to Colin Montgomerie, and on course to return to the team next September at the K Club after a gap of six years.
His last title was the 2002 Buick Invitational in California, and the last of his 22 European Tour victories was the 2001 Hong Kong Open.
But he has stormed back to prominence this year, losing a play-off to Phil Mickelson on the US Tour and finishing third in the British Open at St Andrews.
His win made amends for what happened in this event two years ago. He led by two with two to play, but drove out of bounds on the 17th, double-bogeyed and then bogeyed the last to lose by one to Miguel Angel Jimenez.
This time he had even more strokes in hand and the pressure was off. Even when he bogeyed the short 13th there was no need to panic.
With Garcia lifting the title a year ago it means the trio known in Spanish golfing circles as "the three musketeers" have all put their names on the trophy in the three years it has been part of the European Tour.
The day also decided who stayed on the Tour for another year, and there was delight for England's Sam Little and bitter disappointment for Scot David Drysdale.
Drysdale and Frenchman Gregory Bourdy went into the tournament holding the last two exempt spots, but both missed the cut and lost control of their situation.
When Miguel Angel Martin made it through, Bourdy was done for, but Drysdale had to wait to see if he was pushed out.
With a round to go Martin, who needed only to finish 70th, and Little, who required 24th spot, were in position to send Drysdale back to school.
When Little splashed out of sand to three feet at the last and sank the putt for the par, that proved just enough.
FinalScores
(British unless stated)
270 - Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 69 65 70 66.
275 - Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 69 71 66, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 68 69 70 68, Paul Broadhurst 67 66 72 70.
276 - Miles Tunnicliff 69 68 70 69, Simon Wakefield 69 71 67 69, Bradley Dredge 72 67 67 70.
277 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 67 71 72 67, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 70 71 66 70, Matthias Eliason (Swe) 68 68 70 71.
278 - Andrew Coltart 71 73 71 63, David Park 68 70 72 68, Graeme Storm 70 71 69 68, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 71 69 68, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 68 71 69, John Bickerton 67 71 70 70.
279 - Robert Coles 70 70 74 65, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 73 69 69 68, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 66 70 73, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 69 66 74.
280 - Paul Lawrie 70 71 71 68, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 71 70 71 68, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 73 68 68, Simon Khan 67 69 72 72, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 70 69 69 72, Sam Little 67 73 68 72.
281 - Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 69 71 73 68, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 72 68 71 70, David Lynn 70 68 72 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 66 73 73.
282 - Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 71 74 66, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 73 71 72 66, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 69 69 77 67, Alastair Forsyth 69 70 76 67, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 69 70 74 69, Jonathan Lomas 65 74 72 71, Andrew Oldcorn 71 71 69 71, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 68 72 70 72, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 72 69 69 72, Santiago Luna (Spa) 69 69 71 73, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 68 72 69 73.
283 - Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 69 70 76 68, Jamie Spence 72 70 72 69, Mark Roe 69 72 72 70, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 73 69 70, Peter Hanson (Swe) 69 73 70 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 69 71 72.
284 - Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 70 73 71 70, Mark Foster 66 72 75 71, Scott Drummond 69 69 75 71, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 69 70 72 73, Damien McGrane (Ire) 72 71 68 73, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 68 70 69 77.
285 - Ian Garbutt 73 71 73 68, Johan Skold (Swe) 71 73 69 72, Robert Rock 70 70 72 73, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 70 71 68 76.
286 - Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 72 77 66, Garry Houston 71 73 73 69, Raymond Russell 74 70 72 70, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 75 70 72, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 70 73 69 74.
287 - Niki Zitny (Aut) 70 72 75 70, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 69 74 74 70, Alfredo Garcia (Spa) 75 69 73 70, Matthew Blackey 72 71 73 71, Stephen Gallacher 73 71 71 72, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 68 68 75 76.
288 - Nick Dougherty 71 73 76 68, Jamie Donaldson 73 70 71 74, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 70 71 72 75.
289 - Marten Olander (Swe) 68 71 80 70.
290 - Phillip Archer 71 73 75 71, Fredrik Henge (Swe) 68 74 72 76, Andrea Maestroni (Ita) 73 68 71 78.
291 - Ivo Giner (Spa) 70 73 78 70, Simon Dyson 77 65 78 71, Simon Hurd 69 74 75 73.
292 - Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 70 69 74 79.
294 - Gary Murphy (Ire) 66 74 78 76.
