Easy victory for super Jimenez

The 46-year-old Spaniard held off his Ryder Cup team-mate Edoardo Molinari to head the Italian by three shots with a closing four-under 67.

Jimenez, twice runner-up in an event he has played for 22 consecutive years, became the European Tour's first three-times winner of the season. It looked as though the Spanish veteran was strolling to his 18th tour title when he held a six-stroke advantage over Molinari after 11 holes. But the determination that earned Molinari his Ryder Cup debut as one of Colin Montgomerie's wildcards enabled the Italian to reduce that margin to just a stroke by the 15th.

There had been a two-shot swing in Molinari's favour on the 14th and the 29-year-old Italian, also looking for a third win in 2010, hit a supreme approach to just less than three feet to eagle the long 15th.

A vital save on the short 16th, while Molinari bogeyed, took off the pressure on Jimenez, though, and when the pony-tailed Spaniard rolled in a curling 12ft birdie putt on the 17th, the $422,000 prize was his.

After several near-misses in the event, Jimenez said he was relieved to have broken his duck in the mountains.