Ross McGowan hopes his first European Tour win is a launchpad to better things - maybe even a Ryder Cup debut next year.

The 27-year-old from Surrey took the Madrid Masters by three yesterday - he had been seven clear after Saturday's amazing 60 - and with it moved to second spot in the race for places in Colin Montgomerie's side.

These are still very early days in that, of course - but McGowan has finished third, sixth and first in his last three tournaments and has broken 70 no fewer than 10 out of 12 times in that spell.

"It means a lot to win. That's another goal out of the way, and I hope from here I can progress and move on to bigger things," said the former English amateur champion, whose victory earned him just over £227,000.

Also celebrating last night was ex-British amateur champion Mikko Ilonen.

Having found himself 12 off the lead after an opening 74 at Centro Nacional, the Finn had back-to-back 63s and then a closing 66 to take second place and clinch a Tour card for next season.

He cut the gap to only two, but McGowan birdied the 15th and then got lucky on the par-five last when his pulled approach finished just a few feet from the lake on wooden sleepers.

David Drysdale took third place. But pre-tournament favourite Sergio Garcia, who had been joint halfway leader with the Scot, dropped away to 17th.

Garcia still has not managed a top-three finish this year and has dropped from second in the world to eighth.

This week's Portugal Masters features a much stronger field - linked, inevitably, to the fact that there is a lot more money up for grabs.

Rory McIlroy - who took over top spot on the European money list last Monday - faces a line-up that includes Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Retief Goosen, former Open champion Ben Curtis and Robert Karlsson.