Raphael Jacquelin coasts to maiden victory

France's Raphael Jacquelin won the Madrid Open by three strokes on Sunday despite a spirited challenge by former British Open champion Paul Lawrie.

Jacquelin's first European Tour title at his 238th event came with a closing two-under-par 69 for a 23-under-par 261 four-round total and a 166,660 euros ($200,000) first prize.

Scotland's Lawrie, who began the day eight strokes behind the Frenchman, shot a 64 to finish three adrift.

After ending a run of four second places, the last at this year's Indonesian Open, Jacquelin was given a traditional dousing in French champagne by his compatriot players, having never allowed Lawrie to get closer than three strokes.

When the 1999 British Open winner chipped in for one of his seven birdies, Jacquelin admitted feeling the pressure but he held off the Scot with two birdies in a composed back nine.

"It's just fantastic," said Jacquelin, who had returned three rounds of 64 to lead the field by seven strokes going into the final round.

"I have waited so long for this. It was tough when Paul started to get close but I knew if could get some birdies on the back nine I could hang on."

Jacquelin's first success came the week after Britain's John Bickerton finally won at his 287th attempt when he took the Canaries Open title.

It was a timely win for Jacquelin. "My wife Fanny and I are expecting our second baby very soon, so this is a good present," he said.

Lawrie, whose finish made sure of a Volvo Masters place, was happy with his challenge, saying: "Someone had to have a go but Raphael had to make a few mistakes for me to have any chance, so good luck to him.

"He was so far ahead, second place seems like winning."

If it proved a triumph for Jacquelin, it was a disappointing end to the week for European number one Colin Montgomerie.

The 42-year-old Scot was determined to earn as much prize money as he could to extend his lead on top of the money-list over New Zealand's Michael Campbell.

However, Montgomerie suffered a disappointing finale, missing three short putts in his round of 66 that left him eight strokes behind Jacquelin.

His misses could prove costly when the showdown between him and Campbell comes in 12 days' time at Europe's Volvo Masters finale.

When Montgomerie bogeyed the 16th by missing a three-footer, and then overhit a mere 12-inch birdie putt on the last to send his ball scuttling out of the hole, he threw his putter away in disgust.

"The greens were terrible," said Montgomerie, "one of the reasons I putted badly."

After earning 22,466 euros for eighth place, Montgomerie increased his lead over Campbell to 153,497 euros.

261 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 64 64 64 69 (£114,727)

264 Paul Lawrie 68 66 66 64 (£76,487)

266 Anders Hansen (Den) 67 69 66 64, Darren Clarke 64 67 68 67 (£38,756 each)

267 Ian Woosnam 69 65 68 65 (£29,187)

268 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 69 68 64, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 66 66 67 69

269 Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 68 67 65, David Lynn 69 69 65 66, Colin Montgomerie 72 66 65 66

270 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 64 66 68

271 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 67 69 70 65, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 70 65 66, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 66 68 66, Andrew Marshall 70 68 65 68, David Park 68 67 67 69, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 69 66 69, Stuart Little 67 66 68 70

272 Garry Houston 68 71 68 65, Mark Roe 63 72 69 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 67 64 69, Alastair Forsyth 66 71 67 68

273 Brad Kennedy (Aus) 68 72 66 67, Fernando Roca (Spa) 69 68 70 66, Mark Foster 69 69 68 67, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 65 66 68, Oliver Wilson 69 68 70 66, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 63 76 65 69, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 67 71 65 70

275 Christopher Hanell (Swe) 69 68 70 68, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 68 70 68, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 67 69 72 67, Gary Emerson 67 64 73 71

276 Ian Garbutt 69 64 74 69, Stuart Manley 68 70 68 70, Damien McGrane 68 66 71 71, Carlos De Corral (Spa) 71 66 68 71, Johan Skold (Swe) 69 68 68 71, Simon Wakefield 73 67 69 67, Steve Webster 72 68 69 67, Ivo Giner (Spa) 75 60 68 73, Phillip Archer 70 67 66 73

277 Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 66 70 71

278 Stephen Gallacher 69 67 71 71, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 67 68 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 67 70 70 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 67 69 69 73, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 69 67 72 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 69 69 71 69, Brett Rumford (Aus) 66 71 67 74, Scott Drummond 70 67 74 67

279 Graeme Storm 66 68 73 72, Gary Murphy 70 69 68 72, Anthony Wall 68 69 70 72, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 71 68 71, Philip Golding 74 65 70 70, David Drysdale 72 67 70 70, Simon Khan 68 69 72 70, Richard Bland 73 66 71 69

280 Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 67 71 72, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 69 71 71 69, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 69 70 73 68

281 Santiago Luna (Spa) 69 69 68 75, Johan Axgren (Swe) 70 70 70 71, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 68 75 69

282 Neil Cheetham 70 67 70 75, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 70 70 74, David Carter 70 70 70 72, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 66 70 74 72, (x) Jorge Mazario (Spa) 69 71 72 70, Miles Tunnicliff 71 69 73 69

284 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 68 70 74

285 Costantino Rocca (Ita) 71 69 74 71, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 70 69 75 71

286 Rolf Muntz (Ned) 72 67 72 75

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