On the same course where he hopes to represent Argentina in the World Cup in November, Ricardo Gonzalez won the Seville Open on Sunday - thanks to a 40-foot birdie putt on the final green.

Trailing England's Jonathan Lomas and Scot Stephen Gallacher with five holes to play, the 34-year-old - nicknamed "The Bull" - birdied three of them for a two-stroke victory.

Starting the day five behind the South American, Lomas holed-in-one at the third and also eagled the fifth, but he bogeyed the last for a 66 and had to wait to see if it had cost him a play-off.

Gallacher, nephew of former Ryder Cup captain Bernard, was trying for his first European Tour win in 170 starts, but he bogeyed the 15th and, after driving behind a tree on the long 16th, had to settle for three closing pars and a round of 68.

That left Gonzalez needing only a four on the 432-yard 18th for his third title on the circuit, but he finished in style to take the £110,081 cheque with a 14-under-par total of 274.

If he does make the World Cup side - Angel Cabrera and Eduardo Romero are currently ahead of him in the world rankings - he will be keeping his fingers crossed that the organisers don't grow the rough.

In his third round 69, Gonzalez found only one fairway (and that was when he switched to a two-iron in desperation) and in repeating that score on the last day he hit only four of them.

"That's the best finish of my life," he said.

"And I think this will open the door to the top 50 in the world. That is my objective this year."

He went into the event ranked 114th.

Raul Ballesteros, the 23-year-old nephew of Severiano who had been joint leader after 37 holes, fell back to 33rd with closing scores of 74 and 75. It still represented the highest finish of his career so far, however.

Gallacher, the other player in the field with a famous uncle, has now had no fewer than 19 top 10 finishes, but there is still a zero in the win column.

"The 15th is probably the hardest hole we play all year," commented the 29-year-old former Scottish and European amateur champion, a member of the team that beat the Tiger Woods-led American Walker Cup team at Porthcawl in 1995.

"My drive there and the one on the next were the only two bad shots I hit. I've had the last four weeks off, so I'm delighted - I'd not been playing that well."

Lomas' only tour win in over 300 starts was the 1996 Czech Open. He switched to a broomhandle putter this week and thought the tournament might end as it started. His 66 on Wednesday won him the pro-am.

He went over the back of the last green, but the ball stayed on the bank of a bunker rather than rolling in.

"I was hoping it was going to go into the sand," said the Ayrshire-based 35-year-old. "I'd not had to play a chip like that all week." He left it 14 feet short and did not give the putt enough break.

"That was the fourth hole-in-one I've had on tour, but the most I've won is a bottle of champagne. I'd have taken 66 at the start of the day, but once again I threw away a shot at the end.

"No excuses. I was shown the line and I just didn't hit a good putt."

Collated final totals in the Seville Open at Real Club de Golf de Sevilla, Spain, (Gbr and Ire unless stated, par 72):

274 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 70 66 69 69 (£110,081)

276 Jonathan Lomas 73 68 69 66, Stephen Gallacher 70 68 70 68 (£57,369 each)

278 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 74 71 67 66, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 67 74 69 68, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 70 68 70 (£28,049 each)

279 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 69 70 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 72 68 70, Alan McLean 69 69 68 73

280 David Park 75 69 71 65, Steven O'Hara 68 76 65 71

281 Matthew Blackey 69 68 74 70, Bradley Dredge 70 74 67 70, Nick Dougherty 68 71 71 71, Mattias Nilsson (Swe) 70 69 69 73

282 Garry Houston 67 75 71 69, Richard McEvoy 75 70 67 70, Cesar Monasterio (Arg) 68 67 76 71, David Lynn 68 73 70 71, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 76 68 66 72, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 71 69 69 73, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 69 72 68 73, Simon Khan 69 69 70 74

283 Kenneth Ferrie 70 68 74 71, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 75 68 69 71, Stephen Dodd 74 71 66 72, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 69 70 71 73

284 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 73 72 71, Marc Farry (Fra) 72 70 71 71, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 67 72 74, Ivo Giner (Spa) 67 72 71 74, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 65 75 70 74

285 Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 70 72 76 67, Julien Clement (Swi) 70 70 74 71, Mark Foster 71 70 72 72, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 72 71 70 72, Gary Murphy 70 71 71 73, Mark Roe 73 70 68 74, Raul Ballesteros (Spa) 68 68 74 75, Bruno-Teva Lecuona (Fra) 71 70 67 77, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 67 69 70 79

286 Fernando Roca (Spa) 71 73 77 65, Scott Drummond 71 73 73 69, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 72 75 70, Alexandre Balicki (Fra) 70 73 72 71, Tom Whitehouse 71 69 74 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 71 72 70 73

287 David Carter 75 70 75 67, Sion Bebb 73 68 75 71, Stuart Davis 72 72 69 74, Jamie Spence 69 70 72 76, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 71 70 76

288 Martin Maritz (Rsa) 72 72 73 71, Paul Streeter 72 70 74 72, Raymond Russell 70 73 72 73, Graeme McDowell 72 73 70 73, Robert Rock 75 69 69 75, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 73 69 75

289 Peter Lawrie 71 74 72 72, Jamie Donaldson 75 70 72 72, Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 71 73 72 73, Sam Little 69 76 71 73, Miles Tunnicliff 72 71 72 74, Andrew Oldcorn 75 66 73 75, Santiago Luna (Spa) 71 72 71 75, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72 73 69 75, Benn Barham 70 73 70 76

290 Gabriel Canizares (Spa) 68 76 75 71, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 69 75 74 72, Gary Emerson 70 75 72 73, Domingo Hospital (Spa) 70 73 72 75, Desvonde Botes (Rsa) 70 75 69 76, Gregory Havret (Fra) 66 77 70 77

292 Wayne Westner (Rsa) 68 76 76 72, Federico Bisazza (Ita) 72 73 73 74

293 Rob Rashell (USA) 74 71 74 74, Jorge Berendt (Arg) 71 74 72 76, Roger Chapman 69 70 74 80

294 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 74 71 73 76

296 Chris Gane 73 71 76 76

300 Gary Evans 68 76 80 76