Morrison will raise a glass to Spanish glory

JAMES MORRISON carded a flawless final round of 69 yesterday to claim his second European Tour title in the Spanish open.

The Englishman, who will have to celebrate victory with a soft drink after swearing off alcohol this week, recorded three birdies and 15 pars to finish 10 under par at El Prat, f our shots clear of defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez, David Howell, Edouard Espana and Francesco Molinari.

The 30-year-old, who played cricket in the same England youth teams as Alastair Cook, ravi Bopara and Tim Bresnan, began the day tied for the lead with Howell and moved clear with a birdie on the fifth, where he chipped in from the back of the green.

With Howell dropping a shot on the sixth after finding a bunker off the tee, Morrison ( below) briefly enjoyed a two-shot lead before Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo birdied the seventh and eighth to draw level.

However, Grillo was unable to save par from a greenside bunker on the ninth and Morrison holed from 10 feet for birdie on the s a me hole minutes l ater to restore his two-shot lead.

Grillo dropped shots on the 13th and 17th and it was left to Molinari to keep up the pressure with birdies on the 12th and 13th, only for the former ryder Cup player to bogey the 16th and 17th. That left Morrison with a threeshot lead on the 18th and he finished in style by getting up and down from over the green for a birdie.

Morrison, whose previous win in Madeira came in 2010, the same year he lost a playoff for the Spanish open, said: ‘It feels amazing. It’s been five years and I had a lot of chances in between. Today I just drew on my experience and got over the line.

‘Winning the Spanish open means a lot to me. Every year we come and play here and it’s always one of the best weeks of the year.

‘I lost it once in a play- off and now I’ve won it, it will be dear to my heart forever.’ Asked how he would celebrate his win, Morrison added: ‘I’ve been off the booze this week for the first time in I don’t know how long. It has been very hard but again it was part of the plan. ‘It’s such a big week next week (the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth), and a home week as I only live 20 minutes away, so I’m just going to keep going and try to ride the crest of the wave.’