Scot Lawrie breaks title drought

Final leaderboard: -12 P Lawrie (Sco) -11 J Edfors (Swe) -10 F Aguilar (Chl) -9 J Huldahl (Den), R Jacquelin (Fr) M Foster (Eng) -8 C Nilsson (Swe)

Lawrie came storming through over the final nine holes to win

Paul Lawrie won his first tournament since 2002 with a one-shot victory at the Andalucia Open in Malaga on Sunday.

The 1999 Open champion had begun the final day with a one-shot lead over Englishmen Kenneth Ferrie and Mark Foster, but was soon three behind.

Lawrie was three-over for the front nine but recovered strongly with birdies at the 10th, 11th, 12th and 14th to move firmly back into control.

The Scot could then afford to make a bogey five on the final hole.

He took two putts from eight feet after safely splashing out of a greenside bunker at the last to make sure of avoiding a play-off.

Lawrie, 42, finished with a level-par round of 70 to win by a shot from Sweden’s Johan Edfors with Chile’s Felipe Aguilar a further stroke behind, both men scoring final-round 68s.

The winner said: “It’s nice, it’s been a long time, nine years, and I’ve had a few second places in there too. Although 2002 just seems a hell of a long time ago, I played some lovely golf this week, I putted well and stayed patient.

“Starting bogey, bogey today while Fozzie Foster started birdie, birdie wasn’t great, but you’ve just got to hang in there and I managed to do that with a nice run of birdies at just the right time.”

Lawrie’s previous tournament victory was the Wales Open in 2002.

Ferrie, who on Saturday had fired a remarkable round of 60, crashed out of contention with a 75 to finish in a tie for 11th.

Foster secured a two-shot lead at one stage on the final day, but he then started shipping bogeys and his 72 left him tied for fourth.

His nine-under-par total put him in a group with France’s Raphael Jacquelin and Jeppe Huldahl, the Dane firing the best round of the day, a three-under-par 67 to make a big move up the leaderboard from an overnight 13th place.