Italy's Renato Paratore during day four of the British Masters golf tournament at Close House Golf Club, Newcastle, England, Saturday July 25, 2020. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — Renato Paratore won the British Masters for his second career victory on the European Tour on Saturday after closing with a 2-under 69 containing his first bogeys of the week.

The Italian golfer’s first dropped shot of the tournament came on his 63rd hole — at No. 9 in his final round — to end his bid to become the first player to win a European Tour event without a bogey since Jesper Parnevik in the 1995 Scandinavian Masters.

Paratore also bogeyed the 11th hole but recovered the consistency he had previously shown at Close House Golf Club to play the last seven holes in one under par and claim his first title since the Nordea Masters in 2017.

Paratore finished on 18 under overall, three strokes ahead of Rasmus Højgaard (70), as the European Tour made its full return following a four-month suspension because of the coronavirus pandemic with an event held without spectators and featuring regular COVID-19 testing of players and caddies.

Justin Harding of South Africa was third after a 72, with three players — Andy Sullivan (67), Robert Rock (69) and Dale Whitnell (71) — in a tie for fourth.

Lee Westwood, the tournament host and the only player competing this week sitting in the world’s top 50, slumped to a closing 79 which included an 8 on the par-three 9th hole. He finished in 70th place — the last of the players who made the cut — after starting out as favorite.

The tournament marked the start of the European Tour’s U.K. Swing, six events in England and Wales over the next six weeks devised primarily for ease of travel for players amid the pandemic.

The venues for the six events are all within a three-hour drive of one another, scrapping the need for air travel to which players have become accustomed on the increasingly global tour. Players and caddies were being tested on arrival, and were having to check for symptoms and take a temperature test daily.

Most of Europe’s elite are in the United States ahead of a World Golf Championship in Tennessee, where the prize fund of $10.5 million is around 7½ times that of the British Masters, and then the U.S. PGA Championship in San Francisco starting on Aug. 6.

Betfred British Masters Scores

Saturday

At Close House Golf Club

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England

Purse: $1.448 million

Fourth Round

Renato Paratore, Italy 65-66-66-69_266

Rasmus Hojgaard, Denmark 66-67-66-70_269

Justin Harding, South Africa 69-63-66-72_270

Andy Sullivan, England 68-69-67-67_271

Robert Rock, England 69-66-67-69_271

Dale Whitnell, England 68-64-68-71_271

Oliver Fisher, England 65-69-70-68_272

Ryan Fox, New Zealand 67-67-71-68_273

Jonathon Caldwell, Northern Ireland 67-69-67-70_273

Graeme Storm, England 71-69-67-67_274

Jens Fahrbring, Sweden 68-69-68-69_274

Ben Stow, England 67-68-68-71_274

Sam Horsfield, England 70-70-61-73_274

Jeff Winther, Denmark 70-67-72-66_275

David Horsey, England 70-69-68-68_275

Ashley Chesters, England 67-66-68-74_275

Jack Singh Brar, England 67-70-72-67_276

Clement Sordet, France 69-67-71-69_276

Johannes Veerman, United States 69-71-67-69_276

Matthew Jordan, England 68-68-69-71_276

Pablo Larrazabal, Spain 67-71-69-70_277

Robin Roussel, France 69-68-69-71_277

Aaron Rai, England 69-70-66-72_277

Jack Senior, England 71-70-63-73_277

Adrian Meronk, Poland 69-68-66-74_277

Matthieu Pavon, France 71-69-70-68_278

Calum Hill, Scotland 67-66-72-72_278

Rikard Karlberg, Sweden 69-70-66-73_278

Daan Huizing, Netherlands 73-67-71-68_279

Toby Tree, England 69-67-74-69_279

Jason Scrivener, Australia 70-69-71-69_279

Mikko Korhonen, Finland 71-69-70-69_279

Nacho Elvira, Spain 71-68-70-70_279

Laurie Canter, England 70-68-69-72_279

Matthew Southgate, England 70-70-70-70_280

Adrian Otaegui, Spain 73-65-68-74_280

Jordan Smith, England 69-69-67-75_280

Marcus Kinhult, Sweden 69-69-74-69_281

Richie Ramsay, Scotland 69-71-70-71_281

Gonzalo Fdez-Castano, Spain 72-69-69-71_281

Paul Dunne, Ireland 71-70-69-71_281

Andrea Pavan, Italy 69-72-69-71_281

David Law, Scotland 64-69-76-71_281

Gregory Havret, France 70-68-69-74_281

Miguel Angel Jimenez, Spain 68-71-68-74_281

Richard Bland, England 69-70-66-76_281

Joachim B. Hansen, Denmark 70-70-77-65_282

Benjamin Poke, Denmark 70-68-71-73_282

Alexander Bjork, Sweden 68-72-69-73_282

Scott Jamieson, Scotland 70-69-68-75_282

Pedro Figueiredo, Portugal 66-69-70-77_282

Eddie Pepperell, England 67-69-69-77_282

Lee Slattery, England 66-74-74-69_283

Dave Coupland, England 70-71-70-72_283

Aaron Cockerill, Canada 66-71-73-73_283

Romain Langasque, France 70-71-69-73_283

Alvaro Quiros, Spain 69-69-71-74_283

Niklas Lemke, Sweden 70-70-69-74_283

Lars Van Meijel, Netherlands 69-68-69-77_283

Antoine Rozner, France 72-67-71-75_285

Sean Crocker, United States 67-74-69-75_285

Scott Vincent, Zimbabwe 69-72-68-76_285

Adri Arnaus, Spain 70-69-69-77_285

Guido Migliozzi, Italy 71-70-66-78_285

Grant Forrest, Scotland 70-71-71-74_286

Garrick Porteous, England 65-71-70-80_286

Jake McLeod, Australia 69-70-71-77_287

Brandon Stone, South Africa 71-70-79-69_289

Hayden Porteous, South Africa 71-69-70-80_290

Lee Westwood, England 70-71-72-79_292

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