Four months after surviving the European Tour's qualifying school by the skin of his teeth, Argentina's Daniel Vancsik on Sunday became the circuit's latest first-time winner.

The 30-year-old won the Madeira Islands Open by a massive seven strokes, a closing 68 giving him the £79,360 first prize with an 18-under-par total of 270.

Joint second were two of the most experienced players in the field, 47-year-old South African David Frost and 44-year-old Spaniard Santiago Luna, winner of the title in 1995.

Vancsik began the final day four clear and five birdies in a front nine 32 effectively settled the issue.

In contrast, Dane Mads Vibe-Hastrup and Frenchman Christian Cevaer, second and third overnight, went out in 39 and 38.

Vancsik's victory is the fourth in a row on the Tour by a player who had not previously won. South African Anton Haig took the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand, China's Lian Wen-chong the Singapore Masters and Thai Chapchai Nirat the TCL Classic in China.

In his rookie season last year Vancsik did not have a single top-10 finish in 25 starts, and he missed the halfway cut in 15 of them.

Back to the qualifying school he had to go and he regained his card with not a single shot to spare after six gruelling rounds over eight days.

Now he is exempt on Tour for the next two seasons after a superb performance at Santo da Serra.

Frost, playing on a sponsor's invitation, matched Vancsik's closing 68, while Luna, who has had to return to the qualifying school the last two years to extend a career that began in 1982, would have been second on his own but for a bogey at the short 17th in his 69.

Vibe-Hastrup and Cevaer fell back into a tie for fourth with Scot Euan Little.

Welshman Bradley Dredge and England's Kenneth Ferrie, who make their Masters debuts in 11 days, were 16th and 65th respectively, while defending champion Jean Van de Velde was 32nd.

Collated final round scores and totals in the European Tour Madeira Island Open, Santo da Serra, Madeira, Portugal

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 72):

270 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 68 66 68 68

277 Santiago Luna (Spa) 69 67 72 69, David Frost (Rsa) 72 65 72 68

279 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 65 72 72, Euan Little 73 66 69 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 68 70 68 73

280 Alexander Noren (Swe) 72 66 72 70, Simon Nash (Aus) 70 69 71 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 74 67 68 71

281 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 75 70 67 69

282 Stuart Little 71 69 72 70

283 Iain Pyman 77 67 70 69, Jamie Spence 74 65 74 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 69 73 70

284 Miguel Rodriguez (Arg) 77 68 70 69, Peter Baker 67 72 72 73, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 73 75 68, David Lynn 71 70 74 69, Johan Axgren (Swe) 75 70 68 71, Jamie Donaldson 71 69 70 74, Tom Whitehouse 74 71 70 69, Antonio Sobrinho (Por) 74 70 71 69, Ian Garbutt 71 69 73 71, Bradley Dredge 73 72 70 69

285 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 72 70 75, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 74 68 70 73, Andrew Marshall 73 71 69 72, Oliver Wilson 70 69 75 71, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 76 67 72 70, David Park 71 68 72 74, Sam Little 70 69 74 72

286 Tiago Cruz (Por) 73 71 73 69, Steve Alker (Nzl) 72 71 70 73, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 77 67 73 69, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 75 67 74 70, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 74 70 72 70

287 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 78 67 70 72, Andrew Tampion (Aus) 74 68 70 75, Ivo Giner (Spa) 74 71 72 70, Notah Begay III (USA) 67 71 75 74, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 74 70 70 73, Simon Wakefield 74 67 73 73

288 Gary Murphy 74 67 70 77, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 74 70 71 73, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 71 74 69 74, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 69 71 78

289 Pedro Linhart (Spa) 73 71 75 70, Denny Lucas 72 73 73 71, David Griffiths 74 69 72 74, Benn Barham 74 69 73 73, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 71 72 74 72

290 Luis Claverie (Spa) 71 70 76 73, Ricardo Santos (Por) 66 74 77 73

291 David Drysdale 73 72 74 72, Phillip Talbot 73 71 77 70, David Higgins 74 70 74 73

292 Alvaro Salto (Spa) 74 71 77 70, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 71 73 78

293 Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 75 70 73 75, Garry Houston 75 69 70 79, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 73 71 73 76, Steven O'Hara 71 70 76 76, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 73 70 75 75

294 Phillip Archer 71 74 79 70

295 David Bransdon (Aus) 72 73 78 72, Kenneth Ferrie 74 70 78 73

304 Adrien Mork (Fra) 73 72 78 81