Then in March he finally won his first European Tour event at the Open de Andalucia in Spain beating England's Richard Finch and Peter Whiteford of Scotland, who were tied second by three strokes.

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Alex Noren of Sweden shared the halfway lead with Molinari and they were still together at the turn, but he dropped shots coming home to fall back into a tie with Mickelson, in a group which also includes American-based Scot Martin Laird and another home hope Peter Whiteford.

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