Oosthuizen into Masters

Malaga - South African Louis Oosthuizen finally made his European Tour breakthrough when he took the Andalucia Open title on Sunday.

A week after finishing runner-up in the Hassan II Trophy, Oosthuizen made no mistake with a final-round three-under 67 for a 17-under 263 aggregate that left him three shots better than Britons Peter Whiteford (66) and Richard Finch (67).

As well as his maiden title, which came after four second-place finishes, and the $225 000 prize money, the 27-year-old from the Western Cape earned himself a US Masters start by entering the world's top 50.

Oosthuizen's one-shot overnight advantage quickly tripled when he birdied the first with a 20-foot putt and his chief rival Robert Coles of Britain bogeyed.

Three birdies in the first five holes gave Oosthuizen a cushion that left him virtually unassailable.

Whiteford did his best to catch up with a run of six birdies in 10 holes from the fifth, taking him to within two strokes of the lead. However, a bogey on 15 ended the Scot's hopes and he had to settle for his best tour result.

Finch bounced back from a double-bogey just before the turn with two closing birdies that earned him the share of second place.

Oosthuizen had taken a two-shot lead into last week's closing round in Morocco but wilted to winner Briton Rhys Davies's outstanding final 66.

Leading final-round scores from the Andalucia:

263
Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 67 63 66 67

266
Richard Finch (Britain) 68 65 66 67
Peter Whiteford (Britain) 69 64 67 66

268
Francesco Molinari (Italy) 68 68 65 67
Robert Coles (Britain) 69 65 63 71

269
Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 65 67 69 68
Jamie Donaldson (Britain) 67 69 67 66
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 68 66 67 68
Gabriel Canizares (Spain) 69 64 65 71
Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 66 69 68 66
James Morrison (Britain) 71 63 70 65

270
Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 68 65 67 70
Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 67 70 65 68
Francois Delamontagne (France) 68 67 70 65
Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) 72 64 68 66
Sam Hutsby (Britain) 67 63 70 70

271
David Howell (Britain) 69 69 67 66
Thomas Levet (France) 69 70 63 69
Paul Lawrie (Britain) 65 68 68 70

273
Steve Webster (Britain) 71 66 68 68
Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 66 73 68 66
Mark Brown (New Zealand) 66 68 70 69