Renato Paratore won the British Masters with a dominant display that saw him finishing three shots clear of Danish teenager Rasmus Hojgaard on Saturday.

The 23-year-old's brilliant run came to an end on his 63rd hole of the week – 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.

His closing round of 68 in testing conditions at Close House was enough to keep Hojgaard at bay.

Paratore's one-shot overnight lead was wiped out by playing partner Justin Harding's birdie on the third, but the South African then completely mishit his tee shot on the next and came up 30 yards short of the green, from where he was unable to save par.

Paratore had three-putted the short third for par after a lucky bounce from thick rough saw his drive find the green, but he bounced back to hole from 20 feet on the fourth and extend his lead to two shots.

Paratore's first blemish came on the difficult ninth, where tournament host Lee Westwood had earlier run up a quintuple-bogey eight, but he produced the perfect response to birdie the next to briefly move three shots clear.

Another bogey on the 11th gave the chasing pack hope, but they were unable to apply any pressure and Paratore made certain of victory with a birdie on the par-five 17th.

Harding finished alone in third after a closing 72, with the English trio of Andy Sullivan, Robert Rock and Dale Whitnell sharing fourth place on 13 under.

(With input from agencies)

Cover image: Renato Paratore of Italy celebrates a birdie on the fourth green during the final round of the Betfred British Masters in Newcastle upon Tyne , UK, July 25, 2020. (Photo: VCG)