Day 3
Day 2
Day 1

October 11th 2009, Madrid, Spain: Ross McGowan saw off a spirited challenge from Mikko Ilonen to win the Madrid Masters and seal his first European Tour title by three shots.

Seven clear after his sparkling third round 60 at Centro Nacional, the 27 year old from Surrey saw that advantage cut to only two by Finn Ilonen with four to play.

Ross McGowan

But a ten foot birdie putt at the 15th eased his worries about blowing the biggest lead of the season.

Even then McGowan was lucky on the par five last when his second shot was pulled and finished on wooden sleepers just above the lake.

He was able to save par and with a one under 71 collected the €250,000 first prize with a 25 under par total of 263.

"I came here this week in form and it's lovely to come away with the trophy," he said.

"Once I saw where some of the pins were it was a lot trickier and my game-plan was to hit as many greens as I could.

"It means a lot to win - that's another goal out of the way and hopefully from here I can progress and move on to bigger things."

Ilonen, the former British amateur champion, finished runner-up and after starting the week down in 159th place on The Race to Dubai that moved him well inside the top 115 who keep their cards for next season.

After finding himself 12 adrift following an opening 74, Ilonen had rounds of 63, 63 and 66.

Scotland's David Drysdale, joint halfway leader with Sergio Garcia, closed with a 67 for third place, while pre-tournament favourite Garcia was 17th.

McGowan, English amateur champion three years ago, will remember his Saturday 60 for as long as he plays, although it does not count as a European Tour record-equalling round because placing was allowed on the wet fairways all week.

At 24 under with a round to go he was one better than the all-time European Tour record after 54 holes and Ernie Els' record final total of 29 under looked on.

But the day was all about securing his maiden victory really and, in a shaky start, bogeys at the first and fourth gave the chasing pack hope.

A seven foot putt on the long fifth appeared vital and by adding further birdies at the sixth and ninth the gap was back up to six.

Still it was not easy, though. He three-putted the 11th while Ilonen birdied the tenth, 12th and 15th.

In February, McGowan had lost the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia from two ahead with six to play, but he kept his nerve this time.

Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur were tied at 74th place and could not make the cut despite total scores of 3-under-par.