Top 20 finish but late double costs Dunne

Andrew Johnston. Picture: Getty Images

A double bogey at the 18th might have stopped Paul Dunne challenging for a Top 10 finish (and cost him more than €7,000) but the Greystones rookie picked up some invaluable experience and another useful cheque with a Top 20 showing in the Real Club Valderrama Open de España hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation.

As England's Andrew Johnston became a first time winner on the European Tour, carding a one under 70 to win by one stroke from Joost Luiten on one over par, Dunne had just 24 putts in a one under 70 for a share of 16th on nine over.

Peter Lawrie, showing signs of a return to form having reunited with his coach Brendan McDaid, shot 73 to share 53rd on 17 over.

Dunne birdied the fourth and then came back from a bogey at the short sixth with birdies at the eighth and ninth to turn in 33. 

Another birdie at the 13th put him three under for the day and on the brink of a top 10 finish. 

But the 18th, which had cost him shots in the first and third rounds, cost him two more.  

Had he played the hole inn level par, Dunne might have finished tied sixth.  

Whatever about ifs and buts, Dunne won €27,000 and is now 114th in the Race to Dubai with €56,000 from six starts.

Lawrie won €7,400 while the bearded Johnston got €330,330 as he triumphed in his 63rd European Tour start.

The 27-year old Englishman came into the final day alongside Luiten at two over and signed for a one under par 70 to take the title by one shot and become the first player to win a European Tour event with an over par score since Justin Rose won the US Open at Merion in 2013.

It had been 20 years since a regular event had been won over par, with Ian Woosnam shooting the same score to win the Scottish Open at Carnoustie in 1996, showing just how challenging a test Real Club Valderrama had been over the four days.

Luiten finished runner up following a level par round of 71 while tournament host Sergio Garcia came close to delighting the home fans at Real Club Valderrama, but dropped a shot at the last for a round of 67 and had to settle for third place on three over par – his 11th top ten finish at the 1997 Ryder Cup venue.

Player quotes

Andrew Johnston – 70 (+1 par total)

It feels very surreal. Coming in I didn’t play well in practice and struggled Tuesday and Wednesday and I thought I was going to go out on Thursday and shoot 90. I picked something up on the range on Wednesday afternoon and I played lovely on Thursday and once the wind picked up I knew I just had to dig in because scores weren’t going to be great. So I just plugged away all week.

I come off the course and I just started crying with the emotion of it. It’s just very surreal and I don’t think it will hit me for a few days.

It is what you dream of to have your name on a trophy alongside so many special names like Seve, Faldo, Langer. You see them winning these tournaments, and the history of it and all these names, so to put mine on there feels pretty ridiculous really. It really does. Hopefully I can be one of those guys who has an incredible career like that and people are sitting here in the future going, oh Beef’s on there. It’s pretty incredible.

Joost Luiten – 71 (+2 total)

Second is never bad, I made a couple of mistakes to win down the stretch on the back nine. I idn’t hit them close enough to really make birdies, and the mistake on 11, bogey on 11 felt like might have been the game changer. I’ve had a solid week and I’m playing solid in tough conditions so I’m happy with the way I played and the way I hung in there today.

I had a good start, my putter was going nicely in the first five or six holes, rolling in a couple of par putts and birdie putts, and then after that I didn’t really hit them close enough to make birdies, and that’s what I had to do towards the end there. I hit a poor shot into 17, chickened out a bit, but it was a good week.

Sergio Garcia – 67 (+3 total)

The week has been great - very successful with the Foundation. It is looking like we have raised over 60,000 euros for the cancer charity so we are delighted with that. It was one of the biggest goals at the beginning of the week.

It was exciting today, I played very nicely – even though my wrist was giving me a little bit of trouble. But I managed to hit a lot of great shots, I made some great recoveries and holed some nice putts. Just a shame on the last, I got a massive flyer with the 8 iron. Hit it 195yrds when I’m supposed to hit 165. But that happens so I’m proud the way the tournament has gone, and the way I have played having played four weeks in a row which is tiring but we’ve raised a lot of money for our foundation.

It’s great and everyone should be very proud, Valderrama, everyone. It’s probably one of the best Spanish Open’s I’ve played in for sure so really happy with that.

Complete final round scores

285 A Johnston (Eng) 67 74 74 70,

286 J Luiten (Ned) 70 75 70 71,

287 S Garcia(Esp) 74 71 75 67,

288 S Kjeldsen (Den) 71 77 72 68, J Morrison(Eng) 67 75 74 72,

289 R Fisher (Eng) 70 74 72 73, M Kaymer (Ger) 69 75 71 74, A Noren(Swe) 75 75 68 71, M Lorenzo-Vera(Fra) 73 70 71 75,

290 C Lee (Sco) 71 72 76 71,

291 R Bland (Eng) 71 72 75 73, N Bertasio (Ita) 74 72 73 72, A Cañizares(Esp) 67 75 76 73,

292 A Levy (Fra) 66 76 81 69, J Carlsson (Swe) 72 76 72 72,

293 A Sullivan (Eng) 71 78 74 70, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 74 73 72 74, P Dunne (Irl) 73 76 74 70,

294 T Bjørn (Den) 76 71 71 76, T Fleetwood(Eng) 71 78 74 71, T Olesen (Den) 74 75 76 69, G Bourdy (Fra) 70 74 81 69, S Webster (Eng) 72 77 75 70, P Hanson (Swe) 75 70 76 73, P Angles(Esp) 72 71 74 77,

295 J Lara (Esp) 72 75 77 71, T Linard (Fra) 73 75 75 72, T Pieters(Bel) 73 72 74 76,

296 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 69 75 77 75, R Ramsay(Sco) 69 76 77 74, B Virto Astudillo (Esp) 73 77 74 72, P Larrazábal (Esp) 68 71 78 79, M Kieffer (Ger) 70 79 72 75,

297 B Dredge (Wal) 73 78 72 74, D Drysdale (Sco) 72 76 77 72, C Wood(Eng) 72 75 79 71, G Fdez-Castaño(Esp) 73 76 78 70,

298 S Manley (Wal) 67 79 76 76, P Edberg (Swe) 75 74 73 76, R Gouveia (Por) 72 74 75 77, A Otaegui(Esp) 74 76 71 77,

299 M Kinhult (Swe) 73 78 74 74, G Storm(Eng) 74 73 76 76, E Molinari(Ita) 74 73 76 76,

300 M Ilonen(Fin) 75 72 78 75, S Gros (Fra) 73 77 77 73, J Knutzon (USA) 75 73 79 73, R Sterne(RSA) 74 75 79 72, E Pepperell (Eng) 77 74 73 76, P Lawrie (Sco) 73 76 79 72, D Dixon (Eng) 72 77 77 74, J Fahrbring (Swe) 76 73 75 76,

301 N Elvira(Esp) 72 78 72 79, P Lawrie (Irl) 77 74 77 73, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 78 74 78,

302 P Uihlein(USA) 75 75 75 77, B Evans(Eng) 74 72 82 74, A Quiros(Esp) 77 73 79 73, S Chawrasia (Ind) 73 74 77 78, R Paratore (Ita) 75 76 77 74,

303 M Siem(Ger) 74 77 75 77, J Quesne(Fra) 73 75 74 81, J Robinson (Eng) 73 73 77 80,

305 R Kakko(Fin) 73 76 83 73, S Benson (Eng) 75 76 78 76,

306 K Broberg (Swe) 78 73 81 74,

307 C Shinkwin (Eng) 75 75 78 79,

308 D Brooks (Eng) 77 74 78 79, B Åkesson (Swe) 75 76 75 82,