England's Andrew Johnston Claims First European Tour Title

 

England's Andrew Johnston held off a final-day charge from Sergio Garcia to win his first European Tour title in the Spanish Open. The Finchley-based golfer carded a final round of 70 at Valderrama to finish one over par and a shot ahead of Holland's Joost Luiten, with Garcia another stroke back following a closing 67.

That was the lowest score of the day as the world number 16 took advantage of the calm and overcast conditions, but the 36-year-old was left to rue missing from 10 feet for an eagle on the 17th and a bogey on the last. He said “It's great, I'm pretty speechless and so happy with the way I played,I drove the ball well all week, chipped and putted pretty well but struggled a bit with my irons the first three days. I just kept going and digging in and found something on the fourth. I hit one four iron as a lay-up and hit it straight out the middle and was like Okay, there you go, that's the feeling,' and I managed to keep that going the whole way through”.

Johnston had dropped a shot on the first but then picked up shots on the seventh and eighth to join Luiten at the top of the leaderboard, before Luiten bogeyed the par-five 11th. A three-putt bogey on the 14th cost Johnston the outright lead but he responded superbly with a birdie from 20 feet on the 16th which ultimately proved decisive.