Webster finally keeps the head

Italian Open: Ten years on from beating Tiger Woods and becoming top amateur at the British Open, England's Steve Webster finally lifted his first European Tour title yesterday.

At his 247th attempt and after five second places and 27 top-10 finishes, Webster kept his nerve to win the Telecom Italian Open in Milan by three strokes.

Level with 10 holes to play, the 30-year-old from Warwickshire, far from faltering, turned on the style. He grabbed birdies at five of them to push Yorkshire's Richard Finch, Welshman Bradley Dredge and Dane Anders Hansen into a tie for second.

Gary Murphy, having been well in contention, posted a disastrous final-round 78.

The Kilkenny man started brilliantly with an eagle three at the first but went downhill thereafter, dropping nine shots and carding a double bogey six at the sixth and a triple-bogey six at the eighth.

In finishing on five-under-par 283 he had to settle for a cheque of €12,350.

In contrast, Michael Hoey of Belfast posted his best round of the weekend, an excellent 68, which included five birdies and carried him up the order to join Murphy in joint-25th place.

Among the first to congratulate Webster was "mind magician" Jamil Qureshi, the man described on a celebrity website as "fresh, cheeky, exotic and imposing, equally at home performing at intimate private shows and performing on stage".

Qureshi works with a number of European Tour players and also helped Nick Dougherty to his first victory in January.

"I've seen him every day this week," said Webster.

"He can click his fingers and get a rabbit out of your trousers, but we work on feelings when I've played well and it's all about positives vibes and pre-shot routine.

"It's just a matter of getting the mind right and Jamil can almost put me under.

"To win is amazing really. I started the week pretty confident, but you never know until the weekend.

"My mind was all over the place today. I did feel I was going to win, but it's so hard to keep concentrating.

"Of course I've underachieved on tour. Ten years is a long time and when I look at players who have done well - no names mentioned - I know I am better than them."

As well as collecting 216,660, he earned his weight (11st 10lbs) in cheese, just as Ireland's Graeme McDowell did last year.

Webster, round in 68 for an 18-under-par total of 270, resumed yesterday one ahead and although he set off with a birdie, a three-putt bogey at the third and a duffed chip on the eighth brought about a three-way tie with Dredge and Jamie Spence.

A two-putt birdie at the next restored his advantage and a 15-foot birdie putt on the 10th took him to 15-under again.

While Spence fell away to a share of sixth, Dredge and Hansen kept the pressure on, but Webster responded with further birdies at the 13th, 15th and 17th.

The last of them came just as Dredge, one behind on the last tee, pulled an iron into the lake and all Webster had to do then was avoid doing the same.

In stark contrast to Webster, 2002 English amateur champion Finch was playing just his ninth tour event.

And as well as setting a course record with his second-round 63, the 27-year-old from Hull earned just over €96,940 and should not need to worry about a fifth trip to the qualifying school now.

Dredge said: "I have been struggling a bit with my long game and it caught up with me eventually with a few hooks.

"I haven't played really well the last two days, but still managed to be competitive, so that's pleasing."