Sergio Garcia justified his position as pre-tournament favourite, and perhaps even his decision to turn down the chance of £1million, with victory in the Mallorca Classic on Sunday.

Garcia carded a final round 67 at Pula Golf Club for a 12 under par total of 268, four shots ahead of England's Simon Khan, who closed with a 71.

It gave the Ryder Cup star a fifth European Tour title - his first since the Spanish Open in 2002 - and a cheque for £115,000, almost a tenth of what was on offer in the World Match Play.

The 24-year-old had qualified for the 16-man event at Wentworth but opted to play on the popular holiday island instead, and overcame a terrible start to the final round to eventually cruise to victory.

"I said from the beginning of the week this was a great decision to come here," said Garcia.

"I feel the Spanish people deserve to see me play and unfortunately I haven't been able to play here until this late in the season.

"I was really committed to come here and try to win, unless I win a WGC event or a major I only have a few chances to win in Europe, and to be able to do it in Spain makes it even sweeter.

"The way I was playing maybe I would have had a chance at Wentworth but I don't care. I'm happy here with my people and it's a wonderful feeling to come through like I did and play the last 13 holes in five under par."

Eleventh in the world rankings at the start of the week, 57 places ahead of his nearest challenger, Garcia was as short as 3/1 to win in Mallorca but bogeyed the first two holes today to fall three shots behind playing partner Khan, the Essex golfer opening with a birdie.

"I don't know why my head wasn't in the right place at the beginning, I was a bit tentative and Simon started well which put a little bit of pressure on me," admitted Garcia, who has also won twice on the US Tour this season.

"Getting up and down for par on the third and fourth was huge for me to keep me in the right mood and after that I started loosening up and made a few birdies."

Crucially, while Garcia saved par on those two holes Khan - ranked 255th in the world when a shock winner of the Wales Open in June - was dropping shots over the same stretch and a birdie on the sixth drew the Spaniard level.

Both players then birdied the seventh and bogeyed the eighth before Garcia took the lead for the first time with a birdie from eight feet on the ninth.

The key hole proved to be the 11th however, Khan going over the green to bogey while his playing partner holed from four feet for birdie and a decisive two-shot swing.

"That was the key," admitted Khan, who considered pulling out of the event after being forced to miss Wednesday's pro-am with flu.

"The second shot jumped on me and I had no shot from over the green.

"But to be fair Sergio showed his class, just when he needed to he produced the shots at the right time.

"In the end I'm happy. If I had holed the putts I had over the first two days on the weekend I feel I could have won but I never felt comfortable with the putter.

"And when Sergio had the chance he took control and you can't fault him for that."

Collated scores and totals in final round of the European Tour Mallorca Classic, Pula Golf Club, Mallorca, Spain:

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 70)

(x) denotes amateurs

268 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 66 67 68 67 (£115,393pds)

272 Simon Khan 66 64 71 71 (£76,931)

273 Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 66 67 71 69 (£43,343)

275 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 65 71 71 68, Santiago Luna (Spa) 67 69 69 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 68 68 67 72

276 Paul Broadhurst 68 72 69 67, Alastair Forsyth 67 68 73 68, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 72 64 69 71

277 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 73 68 70 66

278 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 69 75 67, David Park 75 65 70 68, Peter Fowler (Aus) 66 70 73 69, Stephen Gallacher 70 67 71 70, Paul Lawrie 68 70 70 70

279 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 67 67 76 69, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 70 67 72 70, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 69 69 71 70

280 Anthony Wall 69 70 74 67, Jose Rivero (Spa) 70 69 73 68, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 73 68 70 69, Robert Coles 71 69 71 69, Peter Lawrie 71 67 72 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 71 69 70, Paul Eales 74 66 70 70, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 65 71 72 72

281 Fernando Roca (Spa) 68 71 75 67, Steven O'Hara 69 69 74 69, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 69 67 74 71, Damien McGrane 71 71 68 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 68 71 72

282 Marten Olander (Swe) 69 70 76 67, Gordon Brand Jnr 70 71 71 70, Philip Golding 71 69 71 71, Mark Roe 68 68 72 74

283 Sven Struver (Ger) 71 67 77 68, Brian Davis 71 70 74 68, Van Phillips 69 73 72 69, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 72 69 73 69, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 71 71 71 70, Raymond Russell 72 71 69 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 71 71 69 72, Tomas Jesus Munoz (Spa) 67 69 73 74

284 Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 71 72 72 69, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 69 72 73 70, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 73 70 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 67 70 75 72

285 Gary Murphy 76 67 70 72, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 70 63 78 74, Steve Webster 69 68 73 75

286 Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 73 70 73 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 69 76 72, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 69 74 74

287 Carlos Balmaseda (Spa) 71 72 73 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 69 73 74 71, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 71 68 76 72, Stuart Little 75 68 71 73, (x) Sebastian Garcia Grout (Spa) 72 69 73 73, Oyvind Rojhan (Nor) 69 69 75 74

288 Eduardo de la Riva (Spa) 72 69 77 70, Roger Chapman 72 69 71 76

289 Paul Streeter 70 73 73 73

290 Dean Robertson 73 70 76 71, Rob Rashell (USA) 69 74 74 73, Iain Pyman 70 68 74 78

291 Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 72 70 79 70

293 Jonathan Lomas 71 72 81 69, Robert Rock 72 71 75 75, Gary Emerson 71 71 73 78

294 Peter Baker 73 70 79 72, Philip Walton 71 68 80 75

295 Nick Dougherty 74 68 75 78

297 Daniel Gaunt (Aus) 73 68 84 72

299 David Dixon 66 73 82 78

301 Carlos Garcia (Spa) 70 73 84 74