After beginning the day a shot ahead of Paul Lawrie and three in front of David Gilford, Mitchell went four clear at one stage. But with birdies eluding his grasp coming home, a host of rivals got close but never ahead of the gutsy Londoner.
In the end a closing 70 for 274, 18 under par, saw him to the first prize of £58,330 with the rest seeing their chances slip away. Gilford closed with 68 and Jarmo Sandelin 67 to share second spot on 275, with Eduardo Romero (65), Sam Torrance (66) and Jonathan Lomas (67) joint fourth two strokes behind.
Mitchell admitted that the key to the week was the tricky short 16th which is not so short at 215 yards. “I birdied it four days running,” he said. “The secret there is just to put the ball on the green and make three. But I managed to hole all four putts. This should set you up for the par fives but I played them like a dog all week.
“But I’m really pleased with this win. It was tougher than the other two because I was in front from before the last round. I really felt I coped well because I hit only two bad drives in the last round and that was where I was trying to be too greedy.”
Mitchell, who represented England in the 1996 World Cup, will be 40 on April 6. This victory provided him with good cause to celebrate especially as his family witnessed the victory.
As Mel Webb, writing in The Times, explains: “Mitchell is a happy-go-lucky individual off the golf course. On it, he is a deadly serious accumulator of prize money. He played golf in the Portuguese Open that was at times inspired, at times merely workmanlike; but was from first to last consistent, producing two rounds of 67 on the way to victory. The great Sir Henry would have liked Mitchell - everybody else does. Nobody deserved more this week.”
Mitchell has now earned £1,501,382 in European Tour career winnings for 36th place in the Millionaires Club. He thanked golf teacher Bill Ferguson for helping him to this success. “I putted well to keep my score going,” he explained. “I switched from right below left to left below right when I felt it was needed. I’m grateful for a putting lesson I got from Bill Ferguson in Qatar. Basically, he told me not to allow my right knee to wander about so much - there’s a little something in the post for him in the next couple of days.”
Mitchell began the final day on 15 under par - one ahead of Lawrie and three in front of Gilford, Wayne Riley and Sandelin.
Mitchell had made an inauspicious start with a bogey at the first, but he recovered in good style with three birdies in his next six holes. Sandelin applied pressure on Mitchell, and indeed caught him with a two from 20 feet at the 13th, but he took three putts from just off the green at the 18th to finish with a 67 and tie Gilford, who birdied six of the last 12 holes for a 68, for second place.
Mitchell’s birdie at the short 16th - he made a two there each day - proved decisive. It was his only birdie coming home, but it ensured a one shot win with scores of 67-70-67-70 for an 18 under par total of 274.
