Golf: Garcia survives scare to win

Sergio Garcia survived a real scare before claiming his first professional victory on home soil in the Canarias Open de Espana today.

Garcia saw a seven-shot lead cut to just one with five holes to play before eventually recording a final round of 73 and four-shot victory over Italian Emanuele Canonica.

Mansfield’s Greg Owen was third for the second tournament in succession. Local amateur sensation Rafael Cabrera was joint fourth with Sweden’s Carl Pettersson, the 17-year-old from Las Palmas equalling the best ever performance by an amateur on the European Tour.

Pettersson had been nine behind Garcia after two holes but amazingly cut the gap to one shot after a birdie on the 14th, before late bogeys put an end to his chances.

Garcia’s 13-under-par total of 275 brought him his fourth European Tour title.

The 22-year-old, who won the Catalonian Open while still an amateur in 1997, also became the first Spaniard to win the national open title since Seve Ballesteros in 1995 in a tournament promoted by Ballesteros’ company Amen Corner.

Garcia began the day five shots clear and looked to have removed any lingering doubts about the outcome in the space of two holes.

A birdie at the first was followed by an eagle at the par-five second to extend his lead to seven shots over Canonica, and nine over Pettersson.

But dropped shots at the fourth and seventh, and a double-bogey on the 12th when he drove out of bounds for the second time this week, raised the possibility of an amazing collapse.

Another bogey on the 13th, coupled with Pettersson’s fifth birdie of the day on the 14th in the match behind, meant the lead was just one shot.

But Garcia was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief when he birdied the 14th and saw Pettersson take a double-bogey six on the 15th.