Alejandro del Rey secured his maiden DP World Tour title in style as he cruised to a four-shot victory at the 2025 Ras Al Khaimah Championship.
Del Rey went into the final round with a two-shot lead but a lightning-quick start soon took him five strokes clear at the top of the leaderboard.
And although playing partner Marcus Armitage cut the gap to three at the turn, another brilliant burst of scoring from Del Rey at the beginning of the back nine sent him six shots ahead with five holes to play.
The Spaniard never looked like opening the door for closest challenger Armitage from that point onwards, closing his round with five pars in a row to enter the DP World Tour winner's circle for the first time on his 70th start.
He finished the tournament on 22 under par after firing six birdies and no bogeys in a flawless final-round 66.
Armitage ended his round with a birdie at the last to sign for a 68 and finish four shots behind Del Rey on 18 under.
David Puig was then alone in third place three shots further back after the Spaniard's final-round 65, while Adrien Saddier enjoyed a memorable day as he made a hole-in-one at the seventh.
Del Rey already knew he had what it takes to win, having tasted victory at the Big Green Egg German Challenge powered by VcG on the European Challenge Tour in 2022, but he was facing a new challenge as he set his sights on his first title at this level.
And he showed he meant business from the very start of his final round, kicking things off with a close-range birdie at the first after sending his approach shot to inside four feet.
The 26-year-old then took dead aim at the second, hitting the flag and tapping in from less than a foot for his second successive birdie.
And when he picked up his third shot of the day from nine feet at the fifth hole, Del Rey stretched his advantage at the summit to five strokes.
Back-to-back birdies from Englishman Armitage at the seventh and eighth reminded Del Rey that he was not yet home and dry but he managed to maintain a healthy lead, sitting three shots in front after recovering from sending his tee-shot at the eighth into a bush to save par.
After safely parring the difficult ninth and tenth holes, Del Rey then recaptured his very best form as he chipped in for a birdie at the short 11th having cleared the green with his tee-shot.
He made another unlikely birdie from over 50 feet at the 12th to go five clear once more before making it a hat-trick of gains at the 13th, trickling in his birdie try from 13 feet to open up a six-shot lead.
Del Rey had enjoyed some good fortune during that birdie run, as he got a great lie in the waste area following an errant tee-shot at the 12th.
And lady luck was smiling on him again at the 15th as his tee-shot hit a rake instead of rolling into a bunker. He managed to get up and down for a valuable par to sit five shots in front with three holes to play.
Del Rey's birdie try at the 16th hit the hole but did not drop, while he parred the final two holes to close out victory.
After holing his final putt, an elated Del Rey was congratulated on the green by several countrymen, who covered him in water to celebrate.
He said: "It's amazing because it's basically what I work for.
"I got to a point last year where I just felt like I wasn't having that much fun on the golf course because for me, playing for 20th, 30th place wasn't that meaningful at that point.
"I just worked really hard since then because I just didn't want to be in that position much longer. And I feel like I've played many years with a lot of friends that have won out here and I knew I could do it but it just wasn't showing up.
"I'm just grateful and I'm very happy that this finally came.
"I've always felt about myself that I'm a great closer of golf tournaments.
"It just felt great today, felt very natural and very easy."
