Northumberland's Kenneth Ferrie kept his nerve to win his first European tour title in Tenerife on Sunday.

The 24-year-old from Ashington - home town of Charlton brothers Bobby and Jack - captured the Canaries Spanish Open with a birdie at the second hole of a play-off against Dubliner Peter Lawrie and Swede Peter Hedblom.

Ferrie, 6ft 4in, had earlier birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th holes in superb fashion to draw level.

Rookie Lawrie had set the target of 22 under par with a four-foot eagle putt on the last for a 66 and Hedblom, needing to birdie the 542-yard closing hole to reach 23 under, three-putted for only a par and a 67.

Ferrie, British boys champion seven years ago, also failed to make the four he required for the £201,731 first prize - more than he earned in his first three seasons on the circuit - but after signing for a 69 the play-off gave him a chance to make amends and he grabbed it.

After all three had birdied the same hole at the start of sudden death they returned to the 18th again and this time Ferrie was the only one to make a four, Lawrie three-putting from just over the green and Hedblom going right and making a mess of his chip.

Ferrie had fired in his approach to 10 feet and two putts proved good enough.

"I'm really pleased," he said. "I had a couple of rocky patches, but then everything came together.

"I had a heart-to-heart with my coach (John Harrison) at the start of last year. I was not happy being a run-of-the-mill player, especially not seeing Sergio Garcia playing in Ryder Cups and Justin Rose doing all sorts of things too.

"I consider myself as good as them and I wanted to do myself justice.

"This is the first time I've been in this situation and I didn't know what to expect. But I coped with it better than I thought I would."

Londoner Brian Davis, missing a 12-foot eagle chance on the last, and Denmark's Mads Vibe-Hastrup shared fourth place a stroke behind.

An incredible 14 players held at least a share of the lead on the final day, but there were some surprising errors by some of the favourites.

Surrey's Paul Casey, seeking the win that would have put him second on the Order of Merit behind Ernie Els, lost a ball up a palm tree on the long 11th and Miguel Angel Jimenez took a double bogey seven there as well after climbing to top spot.

Then Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley bogeyed the 15th, 16th and 17th to fall out of contention.

Seventeen-year-old amateur Pablo Martin, who sensationally was part of a six-way tie for the lead after a third round 64, was out in front on his own when he birdied the 539-yard first after a pitch to seven feet.

But the Malaga schoolboy's dream of capturing his national title in only his second European tour event - and becoming both the first amateur to win on the circuit and easily the youngest-ever champion - effectively ended when he triple-bogeyed the 459-yard fourth.

Going in the hazard with his second shot was bad enough, but then Martin three-putted as well. He eventually finished with a 74 for joint 23rd place at 17 under and missed by one the lowest-ever total by an amateur on the tour.

He does go into the record books, though. No amateur had ever before led with a round to play before.

Jose Maria Olazabal's 10th place means he is still chasing his first Spanish Open title and with defending champion Sergio Garcia coming only 19th, Max Faulkner, way back in 1952-53, remains the last man to win the title two years in a row.

Collated final totals in the Canaries Spanish Open at Costa Adeje, Tenerife (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72, (x) denotes amateur):

266 Kenneth Ferrie 67 65 65 69, Peter Lawrie 67 64 69 66, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 64 70 65 67

(Ferrie won play-off at second hole. Ferrie wins £201,731, Lawrie and Hedblom win £105,130 each)

267 Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 69 68 65 65, Brian Davis 66 67 65 69 (£55,921 each)

268 Gary Evans 67 69 67 65, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 63 70 67 68, Paul Casey 64 65 68 71, Santiago Luna (Spa) 67 64 66 71

269 Phillip Price 66 68 69 66, Markus Brier (Aut) 68 68 67 66, Richard Green (Aus) 67 66 68 68, Anthony Wall 68 68 65 68, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 64 67 69 69, Paul McGinley 66 66 67 70, Marten Olander (Swe) 63 69 67 70, Peter Fowler (Aus) 69 65 65 70, Simon Khan 66 65 66 72

270 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 68 70 65 67, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 67 66 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 66 67 67 70

271 Jamie Spence 69 69 68 65, Julien Van Hauwe (Fra) 65 69 69 68, Raymond Russell 67 67 67 70, (x) Pablo Martin (Spa) 67 66 64 74

272 Carlos Quevedo (Spa) 69 65 71 67, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 64 70 70 68, Ivo Giner (Spa) 66 69 67 70, Shaun Webster 64 70 67 71, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 67 65 68 72, Soren Hansen (Den) 64 68 65 75

273 Philip Golding 68 67 72 66, Anders Hansen (Den) 68 70 69 66, David Park 67 69 70 67, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 67 67 71 68, James Kingston (Rsa) 69 67 68 69, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 67 68 68 70, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 68 68 67 70, Steve Webster 67 69 66 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 71 64 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 65 68 68 72, David Gilford 72 65 63 73, Miles Tunnicliff 64 65 70 74

274 Warren Bennett 66 68 71 69, Gary Murphy 68 67 70 69, Jose Rivero (Spa) 67 68 69 70, Roger Chapman 68 70 65 71, Bradley Dredge 67 66 68 73, Julien Clement (Swi) 69 63 66 76

275 Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 70 66 70 69, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 67 66 72 70, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 67 65 72 71, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 66 70 68 71, Andrew Raitt 67 70 67 71, Jamie Donaldson 68 66 67 74, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 66 67 67 75

276 Gary Emerson 71 67 74 64, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 71 66 72 67, Mark Pilkington 67 69 72 68, Fredrik Orest (Swe) 71 66 70 69, Andrew Marshall 65 67 70 74, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 64 71 66 75

277 (x) Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 70 68 70 69, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 68 69 70 70, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 70 69 70, Mark Roe 72 65 69 77, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 67 70 68 72, Graeme McDowell 65 68 68 76

278 Roger Wessels (Rsa) 68 68 72 70, Gordon Brand Jnr 65 70 71 72, Eduardo Fernandez (Arg) 69 67 69 73, Francisco Cea (Spa) 68 70 66 74

279 Dean Robertson 69 66 73 71, Knud Storgaard (Den) 68 70 69 72, John Bickerton 66 69 71 73

280 Manuel Moreno (Spa) 67 69 74 70, Andrew Oldcorn 64 72 69 75

281 Nick Dougherty 71 67 70 73

282 Federico Bisazza (Ita) 70 67 69 76

283 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 70 68 74 71

284 Malcolm Mackenzie 70 68 71 75

285 Tomas Jesus Munoz (Spa) 68 70 75 72