Aiken ends wait for European title on an emotional day

“It’s been a sad week with Seve passing away,” he said. “I definitely want to dedicate this win to him with it being his home Open and what he gave to his home fans and to golf.”

The 27-year-old from Johannesburg, playing his first tournament after a seven-week lay-off, shot a closing 70 at El Prat near Barcelona to beat Dane Anders Hansen by two.

Aiken took the first prize of almost £295,000 – much more than Ballesteros earned for his three Open victories combined – with a 10 under par total of 278.

“I don’t think it’s quite hit home yet,” he added. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time and I’ve been knocking on the door. I’m ecstatic.”

With all the players again wearing black ribbons in memory of the Spanish superstar, Aiken became the fifth South African to win on the circuit already this season. Masters champion Charl Schwartzel among them, of course.

He resumed two in front and doubled that with birdies at the second and sixth.

He added another on the short 11th and after failing to get up and down from sand at the 223-yard 13th he came straight back with a further birdie.

Three-putting the 15th cut the gap to three again and when he drove into sand down the 17th the outcome was still far from certain.

However, Aiken, six times a winner in his home country, saved par and finished with another.

Playing partner Hansen, never able to pile on the pressure, birdied the par five last to push Scotland’s Scott Jamieson and Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal into joint third.

For 27-year-old Tour rookie Jamieson it was the best of his three top-10 finishes already this year and he earned a cheque for just under £100,000.

Welshman Phillip Price and France’s Gregory Havret both bogeyed the 18th to drop into a tie for fifth with Scot Paul Lawrie, along with Yorkshire’s Simon Dyson, David Horsey and Havret’s compatriot Romain Wattel.

Jose Maria Olazabal, mourning the loss of his great friend and ex-cup partner Ballesteros, managed only a 77 and fell outside the top 50 on eight over.

Aiken did not even touch a club during a month-long trip to the Bahamas and even with three weeks of practising at home after that he came with no great expectations.

Sheffield’s Danny Willett finished with a round of 72 to add to his 70 on Saturday, to finish nine shots behind Aiken.

Richard Finch recovered from a nightmare third round of 80 to post a final round of 69 yesterday, finishing way down the leaderboard.

n Holland’s Christel Boeljon claimed the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open title after a level-par 73 in her final round at the National Golf Club in Telek.

The 23-year-old had started the day with a one-shot lead over England’s Florentyna Parker and Wales’ Becky Brewerton, and extended that to beat the pair by three strokes with England’s Melissa Reid a further shot back.

Boeljon enjoyed the ideal start to her round when she landed three birdies in her first four holes. She carded a further two as well as five bogeys for her 73 to post a five-under-par 287.

Parker and Brewerton both had final rounds of 75, with Reid signing for a 72.

n Overnight leader Jonathan Byrd recovered from an early loss of his lead to reclaim his position at the top of the ladder in the early final round stages of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte.

Byrd went into yesterday’s play with a one-shot lead from Pat Perez, but a first-hole bogey from him and a birdie from Perez soon saw things change. But Perez then dropped four shots to slump to 11-under after seven, leaving Byrd as clear leader at 16-under.

His nearest challengers after his seventh hole were Lucas Glover and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington – the day’s biggest mover as he climbed 21 places to third after shaving off six shots through 15 holes.

He was three back from Byrd with Glover two behind, but despite being four under for the day to move to five shots off the lead, Phil Mickelson looked to have left his charge too late as he prepared for his final three holes.

England’s Brian Davis was also hanging around at the top end of the leaderboard, going through the front nine in two under to leave himself four behind Byrd and in with a chance.