Italy's Emanuele Canonica ended a 14 year wait for a European Tour title when he won the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles with a two stroke victory over the PGA Centenary Course.
Canonica closed with a one under par 71 to total seven under-par 281 for four rounds, two shots ahead of overnight leader Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium, Welshman Bradley Dredge and Englishmen Barry Lane and David Lynn.
The 34 year old from Turin has long been leading the driving distance as one of the longest hitters in the game, but for much of the week the driver stayed in the bag as he used his long irons for great effect around the tight and bouncy fairways of the PGA Centenary Course.
He became the third Italian winner in recent times, after Ryder Cup player Costantino Rocca and Massimo Scarpa, with a composed final round, taking advantage of playing-partner Colsaerts falling away in the middle of the back nine.
Colsaerts began the round two shots ahead of Canonica but three consecutive bogeys from the 13th ended the Belgian 22 year old's chances.
When Canonica birdied the par five 16th after just carrying the water with his second shot, he moved two clear and maintained the advantage over the closing holes.
“It feels great,” said Canonica. “I waited a long time, ten years and came close a couple of times but now I have reached my dream.
“The key was to stay calm and play the normal game. I played great and putted so so. I missed a couple but made a very good birdie on the 16th and this gave me confidence. Two shots ahead with two to play and one of them is a par five. I thought maybe I had a chance to won.”
Only last year Canonica was considering giving up the game as he knew he could hit the ball prodigious distances, including one drive of 475 metres in the Catalan Open in Spain once. But his wife and friends, including Italian footballers Dona Doni and Gianluca Vialli, persuaded him to keep going for at least one more year. It was advice that has paid off as he earned a two year exemption and his biggest prize of €338,442.
Dredge and Lane, who led jointly going into last week's Scandinavian Masters by Carlsberg final round, and Lynn all posed threats to Canonica's long-awaited maiden success but came up just short.
