Matt Fitzpatrick wins British Masters

The 21-year-old Englishman wins his maiden tour title and becomes the 12th first-time winner of the 2015 European Tour season

Sheffield-born Matt Fitzpatrick secured the his maiden tour title when he won the British Masters at Woburn by two shots.

It was the 24th European Tour event the 21-year has played in and he became the 12th first-time winner of the 2015 European Tour season.

The top of the leaderboard had been crowded for most of the final day, but Fitzpatrick pulled away from the field with four birdies between the 11th and 17th holes.

Soren Kjeldsen had been looking a likely winner but he putted off the green on the 15th when faced with a 30ft eagle putt. He then bogeyed the next hole and completed a birdie-less back nine in 37 shots to finish tied for second at13under par with Fabrizio Zanotti and Shane Lowry.

Kjeldsen reflected: "I played great today. I really did. But I struggled on the greens. So extremely pleased about how I played. But disappointed about how I putted."

Shane Lowry was another unhappy at how he had finished holes: “I holed pretty much nothing all week, always hitting it inside 10ft a lot and not making them.”

Four talking points from the British Masters: 1. Aged 21 years and 40 days, Fitzpatrick becomes the youngest winner on the European Tour since 20-year-old Matteo Manassero won the PGA Championship in 2013. He also becomes the youngest British Masters winner since the event became part of the European Tour in 1972. The previous youngest was Justin Rose, who was 21 years and 307 days old when he won in 2002.

2. Fitzpatrick is the fourth wire-to-wire winner this season. The others are: Branden Grace (Alfred Dunhill Championship), Jordan Spieth (US Masters) and David Horsey (Made In Denmark).

3. It was the ninth tour victory by an Englishman this season. The others have been by Danny Willett (Nedbank Golf Challenge and European Masters); Andy Sullivan (South African Open Championship and Joburg Open); James Morrison (Open de España); Chris Wood (Lyoness Open); David Horsey (Made in Denmark) and Lee Slattery (Russian Open).

4. The return of the British Masters after a six-year absence was hailed as a success after 57,000 spectators came out to watch across the four days in mid October. Tournamnet host Ian Poulter said: "The fans have come out in their thousands and that's what this place needs. British golf has been away for too long. This tournament, being able to bring it back the way we have, is a huge honour."

British Masters Woburn Golf Club, Buckinghamshire, England October 8-11, 2015 Purse: £3,000,000, par 72

1 Matt Fitzpatrick  64 69 68 68 269 €671,550 T2 Soren Kjeldsen  65 68 69 69 271 €300,465 T2 Shane Lowry  66 69 69 67 271 €300,465 T2 Fabrizio Zanotti  68 68 66 69 271 €300,465 T5 Kiradech Aphibarnrat  67 67 67 72 273 €133,370 T5 Luke Donald  67 72 65 69 273 €133,370 T5 Marcus Fraser  66 73 67 67 273 €133,370 T5 Michael Lorenzo-Vera  70 67 69 67 273 €133,370 T9 Oliver Fisher  68 70 71 65 274 €78,571 €133,370 T9 Julien Quesne  70 67 69 68 274 €133,370 T9 Anthony Wall  68 71 66 69 274 €133,370 T9 Chris Wood  69 69 69 67 274 €133,370

Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage