FINAL ROUND LEADERBOARD:
-25 R McGowan (Eng) -22 M Ilonen (Fin) -21 D Drysdale (Sco) -18 G Maybin (NI), G Murphy (Ire), A Noren (Swe) Selected others: -17 A Wall (Eng), D Willett (Eng) -16 L Donald (Eng), MA Jimenez (Spa) -15 S Garcia (Spa)
 McGowan is a former English amateur champion |
Ross McGowan held on to win his first European Tour title at the Madrid Masters despite a nervy final round. The 27-year-old began the day with a seven-shot lead after a dazzling round of 60 on Saturday, but opened with two bogeys in the first four holes. But he recovered to post a 71 to win the title by three shots from Finland's Mikko Ilonen. Scotland's David Drysdale was a shot further back on 21 under at the Centro Nacional de Golf. Ilonen's consolation for missing out on the title was securing his Tour card for next season. The Finn reduced McGowan's lead to two with four to play, but a 10-foot birdie putt at the 15th eased his worries. "I came here this week in form and it's lovely to come away with the trophy," said the 2006 English amateur champion from Surrey.  | 606: DEBATE |
"Once I saw where some of the pins were it was a lot trickier and my game-plan was to hit as many greens as I could. "It means a lot to win - that's another goal out of the way and hopefully from here I can progress and move on to bigger things." McGowan was 24 under after his stunning third round of 60, and Ernie Els' all-time record of 29 under looked under threat. However, he made a shaky start, with bogeys at the first and fourth gave the chasing pack hope. McGowan got back on track with birdies at the sixth and ninth, but Ilonen responded with birdies of his own at the 10th, 12th and 15th. In February, McGowan lost the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia from two ahead with six to play, but there was to be no repeat in Madrid.
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