Rojas gains first Challenge Tour win

Gustavo Rojas confirmed his burgeoning talent by keeping his nerve and the lead to win the Tessali Open in Italy, his first Challenge Tour success.

A closing round of 68 for a 12-under-par tally of 272 left the Argentinian two strokes clear of Belgium's Didier de Vooght, who shot a best-of-the-day 67, and four ahead of Yorkshire's Iain Pyman, who closed with a 70.

Rojas, 31, from Buenos Aires, collected the top prize of £7,309 which hoisted him to third place on the rankings, just over £1,000 behind absentee Dutchman Maarten Lafeber and over £4,000 adrift of Welshman David Park, who kept his number one spot by finishing joint fourth on 277 after a closing 71.

Rojas, the only player to break 70 in all four rounds, has been threatening to win a tournament since joining the Challenge Tour this year.

Having won several events in the past four years in South America he decided to try his luck in Europe and his progress has been gradual but impressive.

He was tied 14th on his debut in Kenya, equal ninth two weeks later in Spain, joint seventh at El Saler at the end of April and equal fourth last week in Luxembourg.

Pyman, who began the day two shots behind playing partner Rojas, got closer when the Argentinian bogeyed the first hole.

But Pyman dropped shots at the fifth and sixth before carding back-to-back birdies at eight and nine to be out in level-par 35.

Another shot went at the short 15th and although he added two more birdies in the final three holes it was not enough to catch Rojas, although it was enough to lift him from 35th to 15th in the ranking.

De Vooght, a former European amateur champion, got within a shot of the leader with an eagle-three at 16.

But Rojas, playing behind, promptly birdied the same hole to restore his two-stroke advantage while they both birdied the 301-yard 18th.

Staffordshire's Simon Wakefield finished alongside Park and Frenchman Marc Pendaries in fourth after a closing 70 to move up to 16th in the rankings.

Leading final round scores in the Challenge Tour Tessali Open, Italy (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

272 G Rojas (Arg) 69 68 67 68 (£7,309)

274 D de Vooght (Bel) 71 70 66 67 (£4,870)

276 I Pyman 68 71 67 70 (£2,746)

277 M Pendaries (Fra) 70 71 67 69, D Park 72 66 68 71, S Wakefield 69 70 68 70 (£1,920 each)

278 M Eliasson (Swe) 72 70 69 67, F Guermani (Ita) 68 70 70 70, J Skold (Swe) 68 72 69 69 (£1,450 each)

279 J M Carriles (Spa) 70 69 70 70, M Blackey 70 73 65 71, D Gammon (Rsa) 73 68 69 69 (£1,132 each)

280 M Brier (Aut) 71 70 71 68 (£943)

Other Gbr & Irl scores:

284 T Maxwell 72 68 74 70

285 P Winston 71 73 71 70

286 A Butterfield 72 69 72 73

287 E Rawlings 73 72 73 69, R Coles 72 73 73 69, S Hurd 74 71 72 70, C Challen 75 69 71 72

291 G Sherry 73 72 75 71, A Barnett 70 72 74 75

298 J Healey 73 72 73 80