Spain's Miguel Angel Jiménez produced a stunning defence of his Turespaña Masters - Open Andalucía title, shooting a magnificent 24-under-par total of 264 for a four-shot victory.
With a five-stroke cushion at the start of the final round, thanks to a course record 62 on Saturday, Jiménez looked to be cruising to his fifth European Tour title when he eagled the first hole for the second successive day and opened up a seven-shot lead after six holes.
A drive out of bounds on the seventh led to a double bogey and another dropped shot on the ninth gave the chasing pack the chance to gain ground. However, on the homeward stretch the 35-year-old, who honed his game at the hosting Parador Malaga del Golf and lives only a ten-minute drive from the superbly conditioned course, twice pitched in from bunkers with his sand wedge and inadvertently had his ball stopped from going into the water by the gallery Those three lucky breaks helped him to a final round of 67, five under par, to secure the lowest total on the European Tour this season.
Four shots adrift was England's Steve Webster, who shot rounds of 69, 66, 67 and 66, while Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin fired a 65 in the final round to finish third, both players sealing career bests on the European Tour.
Webster was one of four players who started the final round five shots behind Jiménez, but when the Spaniard made his errors at the seventh and ninth Webster and Sweden's Per-Ulrik Johansson closed the gap to just two strokes.
Jiménez, though, chipped in for birdie from the bunker on the 10th, and, on the short 11th, his ball was prevented from going into a pond by the legs of spectators in the gallery. Despite those two breaks, he was still only one ahead of Webster, who narrowly missed an eagle chance on the 15th to tie for the lead.
The Spaniard pulled away again by pitching in on the second bounce from a bunker on the long 14th for eagle, and his birdie on the 16th extended the lead.
"Everything was going along quite smoothly," said Jiménez. "I eagled the first and had a great start, but then came the seventh. I hit my driver as normal but this one got away.
"After I made a poor chip at the ninth and the others were making birdies, I thought I was in danger, but I still had great confidence in my game.
"I knew the chip was going in on the 10th the minute I hit it, but I didn't know the pitch at the 14th would go in! It's special to win in front of my family and friends at my home. I was a little nervous when I dropped the shots on the front nine. The pressure is always on when you are leading and I think it’s better for me when it is. You can get too relaxed, and if you are, you are not likely to play your best golf."
Jiménez learned on Friday that he had been given a late invitation to the Masters, and he added: "I never expected to receive an invite as I was outside the World top-50. This shows that I'm playing well enough to play at Augusta, but it is also good for me, when thinking about the rest of this year, to get this win."
Switzerland's Paolo Quirici set the early pace by firing a record-equalling 65 in the first round to lead by two from a group of 12 players. The Swiss, who equalled his best Tour finish last year with joint fourth in the British Masters, picked up nine birdies during his round.
Sweden's Fredrik Lindgren, one of last season's Challenge Tour graduates, took over the lead at the halfway stage on 11 under par after a round of 66. But the fireworks came from Spain's Ignacio Garrido who set a new course record with a nine under 63, beating the previous mark by two shots with a round that contained 11 birdies, just one less than the European Tour record. And 29-year-old Italian Marcello Santi fired eight birdies in a row to equal the European Tour record during his round of 65, although that was not quite enough to make the cut.
On Saturday Jiménez made his charge in dramatic fashion. Starting his round with an eagle and two birdies, Jiménez added another two birdies on the outward nine for a total of 29. Another eagle and two birdies on the back nine gave him a record 62, ten under par, and the lowest round on the European Tour this season. His 54-hole total of 197 was also the lowest on Tour this year.
His extraordinary round gave the 1997 Ryder Cup vice-captain a five-shot lead over Webster, winner of the Silver Medal as leading amateur in the 1995 Open Championship, Frenchman Marc Farry, Garrido and Johansson, and propelled him to victory, the first successful defence of a title for two years on the European Tour.
The 83,330 euro winner’s cheque moved Jiménez up to 11th in the Volvo Order of Merit and he also climbed to second place on the Ryder Cup Points Table.
