With two holes to play of the Andalucia Open yesterday, Oliver Fisher had effectively seen off the challenge of Lee Westwood, his fellow Englishman, and had only Thomas Levet, of France, standing between him and a maiden victory on the European Tour.

At 19, Fisher has maturity beyond his years and yet after being chased to the line by Levet and then being overhauled at the first hole of a sudden-death play-off at the Aloha Golf Club near Marbella, it is unlikely he will have felt the pain of defeat so keenly.

Coming to the 17th, Fisher led Levet by two strokes and Westwood, who had started the day one stroke ahead of the field, by three. But when Levet rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt to get within one stroke going to the final hole, the tables had started to turn.

Then, when Fisher, adrenalin coursing through his veins, found water after hitting an iron shot 270 yards off the tee and paid for the blemish with a bogey, there was a sense that the momentum was with Levet - and so it proved, a par at the play-off hole, the 18th, enough to secure his first win in four years.

Fisher played beautifully for four days and had rounds of 70, 68, 67 and 67 for a 16-under-par total of 272. Levet said: “I was very lucky with my long putt on 17, but my experience helped and I was very calm.”

As is his wont, Levet had time to heap praise on the vanquished, even going so far as to compare him to the game's greats. “I feel so sorry for Oliver because that was tough on him,” he said. “He's a great player, powerful and concise.

“I would say he's the next Nick Faldo. His game is unbelievable and in two or three years, he could be at the level of Tiger Woods, he's that good.”

This was Fisher's best finish in less than two years on tour and earned him 111,110 euros (about £88,000). It moved him to 32nd on the Order of Merit and virtually guaranteed his playing rights for 2009.