Jarmo Sandelin of Sweden won the Spanish Open on Sunday by four strokes and surged into position for a spot on Europe's Ryder Cup team.

Sergio Garcia, the 19-year-old Spaniard playing as a pro for the first time, tied for 25th, 12 shots off the pace. He closed with a 3-under-par 69 for a 279 total.

"I'm very happy with the way I played," said Garcia, the top amateur at the Masters. "It was a great experience, but I didn't have much luck with my putter."

Sandelin shot a 69 for a 21-under 267, taking the $100,000 first prize. He entered the day with a three-stroke lead after three straight rounds of 66 at the El Prat course.

He jumped from 13th to fifth place in the Ryder Cup standings. The top 10 automatically qualify for the team, which will be announced in August.

"If I can keep playing at this level for sure I will be there," Sandelin said.

Sharing second were Ireland's Paul McGinley and Spain's Ignacio Garrido and Miguel Angel Jimenez. Jimenez closed with a 64, the day's best score.

Britain's Jamie Spence was tied for second with seven holes to go when his ball disappeared under a car on the 12th hole, forcing him to take a double-bogey. He ended sharing fifth place, five shots behind Sandelin.

"It's a bloody farce," Spence said. ``We saw it go under a car and now it's not here."

He contended a spectator picked up the ball. If he could have proved that he would have been entitled to a free drop, but he had to play another ball.

"On the tee I was thinking about eagling the hole," he said. ``I came off it with a 7."

To make matters worse, cars should not have been there.

"We had tried to block them off from parking there," said John Paramor, chief referee of the European tour. "But a few made it through."