Sergio Garcia almost squandered a seven-shot lead before claiming his first professional victory on home soil in the Canarias Open de Espana.

Garcia saw his massive advantage cut to just one shot with five holes to play before eventually recording a four-shot victory over Italian Emanuele Canonica.

Mansfield's Greg Owen was third for the second tournament in succession - with local amateur sensation Rafael Cabrera joint fourth, the 17-year-old from Las Palmas equalling the best ever performance by an amateur on the European Tour.

Sweden's Carl Pettersson, who had been nine shots behind Garcia after two holes but amazingly cut the gap to one after 14 holes, was alongside Cabrera after late bogeys put an end to his chances.

Garcia's 13-under-par total of 275 brought him his fourth European Tour title, the £176,000 first prize taking his earnings to more than £2million in just 40 European Tour events.

The 22-year-old, who won the Catalonian Open while still an amateur in 1997, also became the first Spaniard to win his national open since Seve Ballesteros in 1995 - in a tournament promoted by Ballesteros' company Amen Corner.

"I'm very happy," said the 22-year-old world number five, who won the first event on the USPGA Tour this season in Hawaii.

"It's always great to win your home open; it's something I have been looking forward to doing.

"I did not play as well as I would have liked but I hung in there, and a win is a win. It doesn't matter how you do it. They are always going to remember that I won."

Garcia began the day five shots clear and looked to have removed any lingering doubts about the outcome in the space of two holes.

A birdie at the first was followed by an eagle at the par-five second to extend his lead to seven shots over Canonica and nine over Pettersson.

But dropped shots at the fourth and seventh, and a double-bogey on the 12th when he drove out of bounds for the second time this week, raised the possibility of an amazing collapse.

Another bogey on the 13th, coupled with Pettersson's fifth birdie of the day on the 14th in the match behind, meant the lead was just one shot. But Garcia was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief when he birdied the 14th and saw Pettersson take a double-bogey six on the 15th.

"I made a couple of bad swings that cost me a lot," added Garcia, whose win increases his chances of winning the Order of Merit on both sides of the Atlantic this season.

"I knew that I was only one ahead, and it was good to make a birdie on the 14th and try and forget about all the bad things I had done before.

"I knew I was in control - although it didn't look like I was for a while - and if I kept hitting good shots, stayed patient and played smart on a couple of holes I knew I would be fine.

"When I needed it the most I was able to show what I could do."

Pettersson, who won his maiden title at the Portuguese Open three weeks ago, had no regrets about the attacking approach that cost him dearly on the 15th.

"I had to go for it," said the North Carolina-based Swede.

"I was in the bunker and tried to hit a three-iron but hit it fat, and it ended in the water. But I had to go for it; I don't come to finish second or third if there is a chance to win I will go for it.

"I'm a little disappointed to finish fourth because I had go to one shot behind. But I'm pleased I gave it a go and at least made him think about it - if only for a little while!"

Second place was enough for Canonica to regain the European Tour card he lost last season - while Owen followed up his third place in the weather-shortened Portuguese Open three weeks ago with another third, equalling his best performance on tour.

"Overall I'm very happy," said the 30-year-old, who shot to fame by briefly leading the Open at Lytham last year and recording an albatross in the third round.

"We were playing against the fifth-best player in the world, and he was one of the ones to beat me.

"I wish I could have made the par putt on the last, but to birdie 16 and 17 when I was not playing that well was good. It was very, very tough today - and I hung in well because I was going through a tough patch for a while.

"I've been working hard on my short game, and that has come on a lot. Now I have to sort the long game out because that's gone off."

Collated final round scores at the Canarias Open de Espana, El Cortijo Club de Campo, Gran Canaria (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

(x) denotes amateurs

275 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 68 67 73 (£176,360)

279 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 68 69 70 72 (£117,571)

280 Greg Owen 67 69 72 72 (£66,240)

281 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 72 69 72 (£52,908), (x) Rafael Cabrera (Spa) 69 72 67 73

283 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 68 75 70 70, Anders Forsbrand (Swe) 70 74 68 71 (£40,950)

284 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 73 73 71 67, David Gilford 66 77 71 70 (£29,099 each)

285 Ian Poulter 70 72 71 72, David Drysdale 72 72 69 72, Kenneth Ferrie 69 71 72 73, Steen Tinning (Den) 71 73 68 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 71 72 75, Didier De Vooght (Bel) 70 69 71 75, Stuart Little 68 72 70 75, Ian Hutchings (Rsa) 70 71 69 75

286 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 72 72 71, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 69 73 72 72, Gordon Brand Jnr 70 72 70 74

287 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 71 73 70 73, Carl Suneson (Spa) 68 70 73 76, Warren Bennett 69 69 72 77, Mark Roe 68 73 69 77, Des Terblanche (Rsa) 69 72 69 77

288 Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 72 69 76 71, David Lynn 73 73 72 70, Ian Garbutt 68 75 73 72, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 68 77 69 74, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 71 73 75

289 Bradley Dredge 72 74 71 72, Michele Reale (Ita) 70 74 73 72, Fernando Roca (Spa) 71 75 70 73, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 68 75 72 74, Mark Pilkington 69 75 74 71, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 72 72 74 71, Tony Johnstone (Zim) 73 70 71 75

290 Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 73 73 71 73, Jamie Donaldson 72 74 71 73, Roger Chapman 73 72 72 73, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 71 71 75 73, Daren Lee 75 69 73 73, Soren Hansen (Den) 66 78 72 74, Marc Farry (Fra) 70 69 75 76, Mark Foster 71 72 77 70, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 71 72 76

291 Nick Dougherty 71 74 72 74, Peter Baker 72 67 76 76, Andrew Oldcorn 69 71 75 76, Iain Pyman 72 74 73 72, Sam Walker 69 72 69 72

292 Jamie Spence 67 73 74 78, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 74 72 74 72

293 Christophe Pottier (Fra) 69 73 75 76, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 73 73 75, Eduardo de la Riva (Spa) 73 73 73 74

294 Shaun P Webster 68 77 73 76, Adam Mednick (Swe) 70 74 75 75

295 Massimo Scarpa (Ita) 71 74 72 78, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 72 74 78, Gary Orr 68 72 76 79, Andrew Coltart 72 73 71 79, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 73 71 76 75, Peter Fowler (Aus) 71 74 78 72

296 Chris Gane 72 72 73 79, Grant Hamerton 71 74 73 78, Raymond Russell 74 67 75 80, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 69 75 72 80, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 76 74 76

297 Andrew Marshall 74 72 72 79, Marten Olander (Swe) 72 71 72 82, Gary Evans 71 72 75 79

298 Sam Torrance 71 75 75 77, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 72 73 76 77, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 72 72 78 76

299 Jean Hugo (Rsa) 70 74 76 79, Jose Rivero (Spa) 75 69 76 79

300 Van Phillips 71 73 74 82, Matthew Cort 70 75 75 80

301 Santiago Luna (Spa) 76 70 78 77, Roger Winchester 73 73 79 76

303 Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 72 80 80, Richard Bland 71 73 80 79

308 (x) Alfredo Garcia (Spa) 73 73 81 81