Emanuele Canonica wins after 14 years

Italy's Emanuele Canonica ended a 14-year wait for a European Tour title when he won the Johnnie Walker Championship on Sunday.

Canonica, ranked 353rd in the world, closed with a one-under-par 71 to total seven-under-par 281, two shots ahead of overnight leader Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium and Britons Barry Lane, Bradley Dredge and David Lynn.

The nearest the 34-year-old big-hitter from Turin had come to winning since first going to Tour school in 1991 was with second places in the 2000 Tournament Players Championship of Europe and 2002 Spanish Open.

Success looked to have passed him by, though, and after Sunday's $410,500 victory Canonica said he had contemplated giving up the game after 10 years full-time on tour.

Two famous Italian footballing friends had persuaded him to carry on.

"I nearly stopped playing at the end of last season because my confidence had nearly gone," said Canonica.

"But I spoke to a couple of soccer player friends of mine, Gianluca Vialli and Marco Simone, who told me I should carry on.

"My wife Antonella and my caddie also persuaded me. I went to Las Vegas for a month to work with (U.S. coach) Butch Harmon and my confidence came back."

Canonica took advantage on Sunday of lapses by playing-partner Colsaerts who slipped to a 75.

The 22-year-old began the day two shots ahead of Canonica but three consecutive bogeys from the 13th ended his chances.

Dredge and Lane, who led jointly going into last week's Scandinavian Masters final round, posed threats to Canonica's long-awaited maiden success but came up short again after Lynn had set the target with a closing 69. Dredge shot 72 and Lane 70.

Although Canonica has topped the tour's driving-distance charts four times, it was his accuracy over the front nine, hitting all seven fairways as he went out two-under compared to Colsaerts two-over, that set up his victory.

It was assured when he chipped to five feet to birdie the long 16th.

"The course was very dry and the ball was running, so I didn't need to hit my driver much," said Canonica, who once had a drive in Spain recorded at 475 metres.

"I stayed on the fairways by hitting one-irons and two-irons. I can hit my one-iron as long as some guys drive anyway."

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