Rory McIlroy's brilliant start to his professional career continued with a share of fourth place behind Denmark's Mads Vibe-Hastrup in the Madrid Open.

McIlroy carded a final-round 70 at Club de Campo to finish five shots behind Vibe-Hastrup, who fired a closing 67 to finish 16 under par and claim the £103,000 first prize and two-year tour exemption.

The Northern Ireland teenager was bidding to become the youngest winner in European Tour history at 18 years and 163 days but was never truly in contention with a rollercoaster round of five birdies, one eagle and five bogeys.

But it was another impressive performance in only his third event in the paid ranks, coming just seven days after finishing third in the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.

"I would have taken (fourth) when I came here," admitted McIlroy, leading amateur in the Open at Carnoustie in July.

"I think I have done well after all that has gone over the last few weeks.

"There was a lot to contend with so coming here and finishing in the top five is pretty good. That's two good weeks in a row - I just hope to follow it on next week.

"I am playing very well at the moment. I am hitting it really well. If I could get a couple more putts to drop it would make the difference, but Mads played very well today and I would have had to shoot 65 to get near him.

"He played very well and didn't give me a chance. It would have been nice to hole that birdie putt at the last to finish joint third instead of fourth but I am happy with the result.

"It was kind of stop-start at points today, but that's the way it goes. Some days you get on a roll and others you don't, I just couldn't build momentum today. Every time I got a birdie I would give it away in the next couple of holes but I am very happy with the performance this week and that's me probably into the top 100 on the Order of Merit now so I am happy. Onwards and upwards."

McIlroy went into the final round four behind Daniel Vancsik and had a first-hand view as the Argentinian crashed to a quintuple-bogey nine on the fifth to throw the tournament wide open.

After pulling his second shot to the 411-yard par-five into thick rough left of the green, Vancsik took two swipes at his ball without moving it and then, after taking a penalty drop, failed to reach the green with his sixth shot.

That left Vibe-Hastrup in the lead and the 28-year-old never looked in danger of relinquishing it as he carded birdies at the eighth, 10th, 11th and 13th.

Alejandro Canizares, born in Madrid, briefly closed within a shot when he birdied the 16th and Vibe-Hastrup dropped his only shot of the day on the 15th, but the Spaniard promptly bogeyed the next to give Vibe-Hastrup some breathing space.

A birdie on the 16th effectively sealed victory with Canizares three behind in second and Vancsik making a birdie on the 18th to claim outright third.

"It's fantastic," said an emotional Vibe-Hastrup, the third Danish winner on tour this season.

"I have my card for two years now, last year I had to go back to the Challenge Tour and work hard on my game.

"I think I learnt a lot from that and to win this season is just amazing.

"I was a little nervous but I think I kept my emotions well and just tried to play my own game. When Daniel made his high score it was nice to be in the lead but there was still a lot of golf to be played.

"I thought 15 under par would be the winning total so I just tried to get there as soon as possible and I played fantastic, only one bad shot all day and that was a bad lie in the middle of the fairway."

Collated final-round scores & totals in the European Tour, Open de Madrid, Real Sociedad Hipica Espanola Club de Campo, Madrid, Spain

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 72):

272 Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 69 69 67 67

275 Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 66 72 68

276 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 65 70 68 73

277 Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 71 69 68 69, Rory McIlroy 73 68 66 70

278 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 68 70 71 69

280 Benn Barham 71 71 71 67, Sam Walker 71 72 70 67, Sam Little 72 71 68 69, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 70 73 66 71, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 71 66 71 72, Santiago Luna (Spa) 75 67 66 72, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 75 68 65 72

281 Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 75 70 68 68, Damien McGrane 71 74 67 69, Sven Struver (Ger) 69 74 68 70, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 71 69 69 72

282 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 74 71 69 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 74 68 71 69, Ariel Canete (Arg) 75 70 67 70, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 70 69 71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 72 70 68 72

283 Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 73 66 73, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 72 67 69 75

284 Robert Rock 72 74 72 66, Richard Bland 72 74 70 68, Anthony Wall 75 68 72 69, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 66 76 72 70, Andrew Marshall 70 74 70 70, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 67 75 68 74, Gary Lockerbie 68 68 73 75

285 David Lynn 76 71 71 67, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 74 70 72 69, John Bickerton 74 69 72 70, Graeme McDowell 74 73 68 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 76 65 73 71, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 73 70 70 72, David Carter 71 73 69 72, Francis Valera (Spa) 70 67 73 75, Pablo Martin (Spa) 74 71 65 75

286 Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 77 68 73 68, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 73 74 69 70, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 75 72 68 71, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 70 70 73 73, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 73 70 69 74, Matthew Millar (Aus) 72 73 67 74, Steven O'Hara 67 79 66 74

287 Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 72 72 75 68, Rhys Davies 76 70 72 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 73 71 72 71, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 72 70 72 73

288 Andrew Tampion (Aus) 71 73 73 71, Steve Alker (Nzl) 72 75 69 72, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 71 69 70 78

289 Johan Axgren (Swe) 75 72 73 69, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 74 69 73 73

291 Kyron Sullivan 73 74 72 72, David Park 73 71 71 76

292 Carlos Balmaseda (Spa) 79 68 76 69, David Drysdale 72 73 77 70, Zane Scotland 74 73 72 73, Lee Slattery 73 72 73 74, Stuart Little 71 76 71 74, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 74 73 69 76

293 Peter Lawrie 71 75 72 75

294 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 75 78 69, Carl Suneson (Spa) 75 68 76 75

295 Cesar Monasterio (Arg) 73 73 70 79

296 Pedro Linhart (Spa) 76 71 77 72

297 Matthew Richardson 72 72 78 75

301 Agustin Domingo (Spa) 75 72 76 78