England's John Bickerton saved his European Tour career in the best possible fashion on Sunday, winning his first title at the 287th attempt.

The 35-year-old from Droitwich, five times a runner-up, took the Abama Canaries Open in Tenerife by five strokes from left-hander Stuart Little and South African Michael Kirk.

Bickerton went into the week 118th on the Order of Merit and needing a top-five finish to remove any worries about losing his card and being forced back to the qualifying school.

But, after missing the halfway cut in six of his last nine starts, the midlands golfer lifted the £51,104 first prize with a closing 68 and 10-under-par total of 274.

"Finally," he sighed afterwards. "It feels fantastic, awesome. It's been a long time coming and I've been very worried about my place on tour.

"It's your career, your future lies on this game and a few quid makes such a difference. I moved down five spots last week, but it made me more determined and it's nice to pull it off under pressure."

Little was already safe on tour for next season, but second place represented his best finish of his career, while Kirk is now certain to graduate to the main circuit from the "second division" Challenge Tour.

Joint fourth were Scot Marc Warren, Swede Johan Axgren and, in his 500th tour event, Sheffield's Mark Roe.

For Roe it also means he saves his card. He was 117th on the money list prior to the tournament and after his best finish for four years he commented: "That was hard work.

"It's pleasant on reflection, but not when you are doing it. It does not get any easier the older you get."

Ahead by one overnight, Bickerton took himself clear by playing the first 10 holes in three under and after three-putting the short 12th he came straight back with a pitch to two feet.

The former England boy and youth international drove into the trees at the 413-yard 15th and had to chop out, but he saved par with an eight-foot putt and could breathe more easily.

Bickerton parred his way in and could enjoy the walk down the last knowing that even with a quadruple bogey he would win.

Who stays on tour and who has to return to the qualifying school will be decided at the Majorca Classic on October 20-23. First comes this week's Madrid Open - and Seve Ballesteros' return to golf after almost two years out.

The event takes place at Club de Campo, the course on which Ballesteros had the last of his record 50 victories on the circuit 10 years ago.

In the decade since the former world number one has been battling a total loss of form and an arthritic back condition.

He feared last year he might never play again and called off comebacks planned for the Masters, Spanish Open and Open championship this year because he did not feel ready. Now he does.

Collated final round totals in the European Tour Abama Canaries Open at Abama, Tenerife

(Gbr and Irl unless stated, par 71):

274 John Bickerton 69 68 69 68

279 Michael Kirk (USA) 69 66 75 69, Stuart Little 68 67 72 72

280 Mark Roe 69 68 71 72, Marc Warren 68 71 72 69, Johan Axgren (Swe) 72 67 71 70

281 Lee Slattery 69 72 71 69, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 70 73 67 71

282 Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 72 70 66 74, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 70 66 73 73

283 Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 74 68 68 73, Peter Baker 69 68 72 74, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 71 72 71, Gareth Davies 74 71 73 65, David Carter 74 71 70 68, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 74 71 72 66, Jamie Spence 69 69 72 73

284 Ivo Giner (Spa) 72 72 72 68, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 72 72 69 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 69 76 72 67, Roger Chapman 69 72 71 72, Phillip Archer 70 72 71 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 70 73 71, Hernan Rey (Arg) 72 69 73 70

285 Simon Hurd 69 72 67 77, Gordon Brand Jnr 70 74 68 73, Sam Walker 80 65 69 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 71 72 74 68, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 72 67 70 76, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 70 74 70 71, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 73 68 75 69, Kariem Baraka (Ger) 71 68 70 76, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 72 69 68 76

286 Michael Jonzon (Swe) 74 68 73 71, Carl Suneson (Swe) 71 71 71 73, Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 72 71 73, Sion Bebb 72 72 69 73, Paul Dwyer 76 67 72 71, Andrew Marshall 72 73 73 68

287 David Dixon 71 70 73 73, Denny Lucas 72 70 76 69, Carlos Garcia (Spa) 73 70 72 72, Lars Brovold (Nor) 73 70 74 70

288 Niki Zitny (Aut) 76 68 74 70, Ilya Goroneskoul (Fra) 71 72 73 72, Michael Hoey 70 74 73 71, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 71 71 76 70, Garry Houston 73 65 77 73, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 71 73 70 74, Mark Foster 72 70 72 74

289 Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 73 67 73 76, Ben Mason 71 70 73 75, Titch Moore (Rsa) 68 68 76 77, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 71 72 73 73, Magnus P Atlevi (Swe) 74 71 72 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 74 69 72 74

290 Stephen Browne 74 68 73 75, Ariel Canete (Arg) 72 73 73 72, Johan Skold (Swe) 66 76 76 72

291 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 69 74 73 75

292 Gary Clark 73 72 71 76, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 74 70 78 70, David Higgins 77 68 81 66, Miguel Carballo (Arg) 71 72 74 75

293 Richard McEvoy 71 73 77 72, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 71 73 72 77

294 Edward Rush 71 69 81 73, Andres Romero (Arg) 66 72 73 83, Rafael Gomez (Arg) 71 69 77 77

297 Robert Rock 71 73 82 71

308 Matthew Morris 76 69 72 91