Renato Paratore ensured his name will be etched on the British Masters trophy alongside the likes of Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo with an almost flawless victory at Close House.

The 23-year-old Italian had been aiming to become the first player to win a European Tour event without making a single bogey since Jesper Parnevik at the 1995 Scandinavian Masters.

And although his brilliant run of error-free golf finally came to an end on his 63rd hole of the week, a final round of 68 in testing conditions saw him finish 18 under par, three shots ahead of Danish teenager Rasmus Hojgaard.

In the European Tour’s full return to action after nearly five months of inactivity due to the coronavirus pandemic, Paratore’s fellow players formed a socially-distant guard of honour behind the 18th green and he was surprised with a FaceTime call with his mother Cristina.

“It was really amazing,” Paratore said. “I did not expect that from my friends on the Tour and it was a really good situation.”

“I just told myself to play good and try to win the tournament. It was really windy and really difficult, and when I made the first bogey, I made a really good birdie after to stay in the tournament.”

Paratore also praised the tournament organisers for successfully introducing strict health and safety measures throughout the week.

He added: “For me the European Tour have done a really great job, it is not easy to come back to tournaments with this situation, and they have been good with the restrictions at the golf course and the hotel.

“It is not easy because you have to do golf club-hotel, hotel-golf club but we have to do this for the benefit of the tour and to play more events.”

Former Stocksfield junior golfer Chris Paisley narrowly missed the cut on Thursday night with a one over par score, while tournament host and Close House professional Lee Westwood finished eight over par on Saturday.

Calum Fyfe, who earned a place at the event through the qualifying day, finished three over par on Thursday night.

Reflecting on the four day event, Westwood said the European Tour and Close House had done an amazing job.

“When we turned up on Monday, I was surprised how thorough everything was,” he said.

“I knew we were going to be on lockdown but the testing protocols we have all been through have been a success. I don’t think anybody has tested positive so hopefully they will carry on next week.

“I’m 28 years of playing on Tour and this is a shock to the system, isn’t it? Whenever I come out and play the tournaments now it is almost about seeing my mates and the sociable element of it all and you’re not getting that at the moment.

“You finish playing golf and go to the range. I’ve never seen so many players on the range at 8 o’clock at night trying to avoid their hotel rooms. There is a lot of think about where to play coming up really.

Westwood said he wasn’t prepared to travel to America for two tournaments this weekend and next week due to health and safety fears.

And despite the success of the tournament bubble he admitted he was out of his comfort zone during the event.

He added: “I feel like I should play in a few of the UK Swing events to support the tour because they have done such an unbelievable job of putting on these tournaments.”