(Reuters) - Lee Westwood triumphed at the Valle Romano Open de Andalucia to earn his 17th European Tour victory and his first in nearly four years.
A closing five under par 67 to total 20 under 268 left the 34 year old Englishman two strokes better than fellow Englishman Phillip Archer (65) and Sweden's Fredrik Andersson-Hed (66).
Westwood appeared to be running away with the event when he cruised five shots ahead of the field with eight holes to go but then the fragility of his putting resurfaced.
He came out of the blocks with three successive birdies and led by four strokes at the turn but, as Archer and Andersson-Hed came at him, three back nine bogeys ensured a nervy finish.
"It's great to win again, although it looked like it might be a lot easier than I made it in the end," admitted Westwood, who was seven off the pace after a first-round 72 before switching putters and playing the last 54 holes in 20 under.
"Winning was very important, it wouldn't have felt good coming off with second or third after getting in such a good position.
"I never really thought about going so long without a win. I've still been playing pretty well and I knew that winning is fickle, sometimes you just don't get across the line first.
"I won so often in the late 90s that if I had a spell where I didn't win, people were always going to highlight it and get on my case about it. But I was never going to get on my own case."
The expected final round showdown between Westwood and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano failed to materialise as the Spaniard's 72 left him six strokes adrift of the winner.
Westwood had turned round his performance on the Aloha Golf Club's greens by changing putters and switching to a left-hand below-right putting grip after the first round, but three putts to only par the long fifth showed he is not completely over his malaise.
But, despite a few problems with his putter, Westwood showed all the class that has taken him to the last five Ryder Cups to close out victory as he came under intense presure from Andersson-Hed and Archer.
As Westwood dropped a third shot in the space of five holes on the 15th, Andersson-Hed and Archer eagled the par five 16th to cut Westwood's lead to just a single stroke.
The 34 year old responded with a birdie on the 16th to edge two clear and holed a 40 foot par putt on the 18th to ensure he took the winner's cheque for €166,660 to move 18th place on The European Tour Order of Merit and secure a likely return to the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
