Thomas Aiken lifted his first European Tour title at the Spanish Open

Thomas Aiken lifted his first European Tour title at the Spanish Open

South African Thomas Aiken lifted his first European Tour title at the Spanish Open - an event inevitably overshadowed by the death of three-time winner Seve Ballesteros.

After clinching victory by two strokes, Aiken immediately dedicated his triumph to one of the greats of the game."It's been a sad week with Seve passing away," he said. "I definitely want to dedicate this win to him with it being his home Open  How Can You Enhance Your Golf Level and what he gave to his home fans and to golf."The 27-year-old from Johannesburg, playing his first tournament after a seven-week lay-off, shot a closing 70 at El Prat near Barcelona to beat Dane Anders Hansen by two.Aiken took the first prize of almost £295,000 - way more than Ballesteros earned for his three Open victories combined - with a 10-under-par total of 278."I don't think it's quite hit home yet," he added. "I've been waiting for this for a long, long time and I've been knocking on the door. I'm ecstatic."With all the players again wearing black ribbons in memory of the Spanish superstar, Aiken became the fifth South African to win on the circuit already this season. Masters champion Charl Schwartzel is among them, of course.He resumed two in front and doubled that with birdies at the second and sixth.He added another on the short 11th and after failing to get up and down from sand at the 223-yard 13th he came straight back with a further birdie.Three-putting the 15th cut the gap to three again and when he drove into sand down the 17th the outcome was still far from certain.However, Aiken, six times a winner in his home country, saved par and finished with another.Playing partner Hansen, never able to pile on the pressure, birdied the par-five last to push Scotland's Scott Jamieson and Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal into joint third.Welshman Phillip Price and France's Gregory Havret both bogeyed the 18th to drop into a tie for fifth with Scot Paul Lawrie, England's Simon Dyson and David Horsey and Havret's compatriot Romain Wattel.Jose Maria Olazabal, mourning the loss of his great friend and ex-cup partner Ballesteros, managed only a 77 and fell outside the top 50 on eight over.