Luton Man Poulter holds on to win

Ian Poulter kept his nerve and his two-shot advantage to win the Ivory Coast Open for his first Challenge Tour title in hot and sunny Abidjan.

The 23-year-old from Luton carded a closing 73 for a four-under-par tally of 284 and a two-stroke victory margin over French pair Sebastien Delagrange and Marc Pendaries, who also closed with 73, and fast-finishing Welshman David Park, with 69.

"I'm absolutely delighted," said Poulter, who is attached to the Leighton Buzzard club.

"This is my first big win as a professional. I've won on the Hippo Tour but this means a lot to me. Now the target is to get my tour card."

The omens are on his side because the three previous Ivory Coast winners - Massimo Florioli of Italy, Denmark's Knud Storegaard, and John Mellor from Sheffield - all progressed to the main tour.

Poulter, who led from the second round, was still two in front at the turn, but a double-bogey six at the 15th cut his lead to one.

However, his main rivals were unable to take advantage and when Poulter arrived on the 18th tee he knew a par-four would probably be good enough to see him to victory.

He did just that with a six-foot putt and no one got within two shots of him.

Again, his work on the greens was the key to his success as he needed only 26 putts, taking his week's tally to just 102.

Park got to three under after 17 but bogeyed the last to drop back into a tie for second place with the two Frenchmen.

However, the Hereford-based 24-year-old had the consolation of knowing that his £3,390 prize takes him to number one in the rankings above Maarten Lafeber of Holland, who finished fifth.