Ross McGowan lies second in the Ryder Cup race after capturing his first European Tour title by three shots.

The champagne has been put on ice at Banstead Downs where the 27-year-old plied his early trade.

Seven shots clear after his magical 60 in Saturday's third round, he saw that advantage cut to only two by Finn Mikko Ilonen with four to play.

But a 10-foot birdie putt at the 15th eased his worries about blowing the biggest lead of the season.

Even then McGowan was lucky on the par-five last when he pulled his second shot and finished on wooden sleepers just above the lake.

He was able to save par and with a one-under 71 collected the £227,014 first prize with a 25-under total of 263.

"I came here in form and it's lovely to come away with the trophy," said McGowan, whose coach is based at Surrey Hills, Kingswood. "Once I saw where some of the pins were it was a lot trickier and my game plan was to hit as many greens as I could.

"Hopefully I can move onto greater things," he added.

McGowan began the cup campaign with a third place in Switzerland last month and was sixth at the Alfred Dunhill Links last Monday, his third top 10 finish of the year - to pocket £103,000 and move up 20 places to 45th in the European Tour Race to Dubai rankings.

He recently revealed tinkering with his swing and a change of caddie is behind a run of results that could yet land him a spot at the multi-million pound season-ending Dubai World Championships.

A top 60 finish in mid-November will land him the chance to battle it out for a share of £4.7million in the Middle East, which will represent a great return in only his second season on the full Tour.

McGowan has six tournaments left to secure his place at the top table, having recovered from a string of missed cuts and failure to qualify for the British and US Open championships this summer.

He finished third at the European Masters - three shots behind winner Alexander Noren - last month, his best finish since a tied-second place at the Johnnie Walker Classic in February.

"I've had to keep working hard. I've changed a couple of things with my swing and I've changed my caddie. It seems to be paying dividends," he explained.