Alejandro Canizares ended his near eight year-long victory drought by claiming a comfortable and classy wire-to-wire win in Morocco at the Trophee Hassan II.
The 31-year-old Spaniard, whose only victory came in 2006 in Russia, shot a brilliant 62 on Thursday to lay the foundation of what would become a memorable week. He followed it with rounds of 68 and 69 to establish a six-shot lead after 54-holes.
He quickly dispelled any possibility of a dramatic collapse by completing the front-nine in a one-under 35. Further birdies would come at the 10th, 12th and 15th, before another at the penultimate hole would see him stand on the 18th tee with a commanding seven-shot advantage.
It was lucky too, as he suffered great misfortune on that final hole. His approach would roll off the green, and run up against a divot that had not been correctly replaced. After being told be an official that he would have to play his next shot with the clump of grass behind the ball, he advanced his third shot by only a few yards before it once again rolled off the slope and almost to his feet. The comical finish would continue, as he duffed his next pitch, before finally getting up-and-down to claim a comprehensive five shot victory.
Five back of Canizares’ total of 19-under was England’s Andy Sullivan who shot through the field courtesy of a stunning final round of 63. Magnus A Carlsson and Seve Benson shared third at 12-under, but it was Canizares who revelled most after claiming his second European Tour victory.
"It's been a long time since the last win,” he said. “It felt like it was never coming but this week I played great, some of the best golf of my career. I hit good shot after good shot and kept my focus.
"I was very accurate and solid with my irons. I left myself lots of chances and although I did not make all of them, the first day was the key. I putted great the first day, shot ten under and just kept pushing on.
"Hopefully this is the first step for a little bit of improvement in my career. I have some stuff to work on and hopefully I improve little by little to the point where I can play golf as naturally as I did this week."
The Spaniard has been in excellent form, having not missed a cut since September. Three top ten-finishes would also come during that period, with Canizares looking very much like a contender again.
Reflecting on the closing double bogey, Canizares said: "It was a pity it ended like that, but who cares? I won the tournament so I am very happy.”
Who cares, indeed. It may not have been a classy finish, but it was a quality performance throughout. To produce one great round is impressive, but to follow it with three good ones, having slept on the lead all week, is the illustration of a confident and quality player who may be entering the most lucrative chapter of his career.
But this was a pretty sweet chapter in the career of Alejandro Canizares.