Schwartzel snatches win

Schwartzel came through with a closing five-under 67 to total 272, 16-under, after playing 32 holes on the final day in an event badly disrupted by the weather.

The young Johannesburg professional added to his 2005 Dunhill Championship success by virtue of two telling putts.

His 15-footer for eagle on the 16th separated him from the pack but a spectacular 60ft birdie putt on the eighth had set Schwartzel on his way, helping to blot out the memory of a bad finish only two hours before.

When he had ended his third round Schwartzel double-bogeyed the 18th to fall three strokes behind the eventual leader Carlos Rodiles of Spain.

The finale, in a week where 12 hours was lost to the weather, was highlighted by putts sunk and missed. With Schwartzel bogeying the last, Randhawa's miss from three feet to bogey the 15th in the final round proved costly as he shot a 67.

Rodiles finished two strokes behind Schwartzel in third place. When the home favourite missed from five feet for eagle on the 16th it visibly checked his momentum and a bogey on 18 for a 72 denied him a share with Randhawa.

Runner-up Randhawa showed the burgeoning golfing strength in India as he came close to his maiden victory and achieving the second victory from the sub-continent after Jeev Milkha Singh's Volvo Masters success last October.

It was a brave fightback by Randhawa from an opening 75 in which he lay five-over after 12 holes as he tried to make it a weekend Indian double following Gaurav Ghei's Beijing Open win on the Asian Tour.

"I thought I had shot myself out of contention in the first round," he said. "But I knew I had only had one really bad hole so I just kept plugging away.

"After missing that short putt on the 15th [in the final round], though, I had a very hollow feeling, even though I did get focused again by the time I got on the 16th tee."

Rodiles, who has three second places to his record, held a two-shot lead going into the final round but had to console himself with his best finish for some time.

He vaulted up the money-list from the 246th place he held coming into the Madrid event. The Spaniard bogeyed the 72nd hole but held off fourth placed Britons Simon Dyson and Mark Foster by a shot.