(Reuters) - Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain beat Austrian Markus Brier in a play-off for the Telecom Italia Open title before being thrown into the swimming pool by his delighted Spanish compatriots.
The Spaniard's birdie at the second extra hole earned him his third European Tour title after the pair had finished a stroke ahead of the field on 16 under par 200.
Fernandez-Castano's scintillating finish, coming home in six under par 30 for a seven under par 65 to set the 200 target, ended Brier's chances of a second win in four weeks.
The Austrian's two birdies in the last three holes for a 68 earned him his sudden-death chance, although both players benefited from a collapse by Nick Dougherty.
Thanks to some errant driving, Dougherty threw away a three shot lead with nine holes to play and came up a stroke light of the shootout by bogeying the penultimate hole in the weather-affected tournament which was the 27th in European Tour history to only complete 54 holes.
In contrast, Fernandez-Castano, five shots off the lead overnight and six adrift of Dougherty at the turn, was able to add to his 2005 KLM Open and 2006 BMW Asian Open titles by collecting an eagle and five birdies on his back nine. A bogey on the 13th, where he found water, cost him the win without extra holes.
"Five shots is a lot to make up on a course where everybody can make birdies," he said. "I haven't been playing well but my attitude changed this week, probably because I love coming to Italy, great food, great course, great people," he added.
The Spaniard's drilled shot in to five feet on the 18th at the second extra hole denied Brier adding a third Tour title but the Austrian was happy to have come so close.
"Since winning in China three weeks ago my self-confidence has become very high," he said. "With some big tournaments coming up, I'm hoping to keep it that way."
Last year's champion Francesco Molinari, who had been six behind overnight leader Andrew McLardy going into the final round, shot a 65 for a share of third with Dougherty and Fredrik Andersson-Hed (64) and Henrik Nystrom (66) of Sweden.
There was another 45 minute delay before the final round, this time because of fog, making it over 14 hours of play lost to bad weather in total over the week. The event was cut to 54 holes on Saturday.
Clickhereto listen to Gonzalo Ferandez-Castano's post victory Interview.
