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Spence wins with closing
64
Briton Jamie Spence's eight-year
wait for a second European Tour victory ended on Sunday when he equalled the
Amelkis course record 64 in the final round of the Moroccan Open to win by four
shots.
His eight-under-par charge
left him 22-under on 266, the lowest total of the season by two strokes and gave
him the $105,000 first prize.
Frenchmen Sebastien Delagrange
and Thomas Levet and Briton shared second place.
Spence began three strokes
behind Ignacio Garrido, but as the Spaniard mixed mistakes with birdies, the
Englishman was ahead by the turn.
Birdies at the start and
end of his front nine took Spence in front and he shook off Delagrange, who drew
level with him by the turn, with three successive birdies from the 13th.
Delagrange, normally a
Challenge Tour player, hung on gamely for a 70 to earn his biggest cheque. Three
birdies in the last four holes by Levet and a birdie-eagle finish by Poulter
matched his 270.
South African Desmond Terblanche
birdied the last to finish a further stroke back but another challenger, 19-year-old
Australian amateur Adam Scott, had a frustrating time.
A bogey on the short third
signalled a see-saw day for the Los Angeles-based Queenslander and his 72 for
273 left him seven strokes behind in a share of sixth place.
Spence's only other win
came in 1992 when he won the European Masters by beating Sweden's Anders Forsbrand
in a play-off. The Englishman had blazed through the last round with a European
Tour record-equalling 60.
"It's been a long wait,"
said a relieved Spence, second behind Swede Robert Karlsson in the Belgacom Open
six months ago.
"My first win came a bit
too early in my career, I guess, and it gets very frustrating waiting for the
next one which never wants to happen.
"I was thinking back to
another time eight years ago when I could have won this tournament but lost by
a stroke when I had a big lead after playing well in the wind. But then it dropped
and let in everyone.
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