Spanish Open

-14 G Forrest (Sco); -13 E Chacarra (Spa), V Perez (Fra); -12 J Skov Olesen (Den); D Brown (Eng), J Dean (Eng)

Selected others: -10 L Aberg (Swe); -8 S Lowry (Ire); -7 M Penge (Eng), F Molinari (Ita)

Full leaderboard

Scotland’s Grant Forrest held off a charge from home favourite Eugenio Chacarra to win the Spanish Open and book a spot at The Open and the Masters next year.

With Chacarra in the clubhouse at 13 under, Forrest and playing partner Victor Perez needed to make birdies at the 18th to go above the Spaniard.

Both players’ drives nestled down in the greenside rough on the 322-yard par four, and after Perez’s birdie putt drifted past the hole, Forrest sunk his to seal his third DP World Tour title and a first professional win outside Scotland.

“I’m in pure shock just now,” Forrest said. “It’s been such a tough year. I’ve got good memories of this course and this tournament. To do it is unbelievable.

“It was tough. I wasn’t too sure what other groups were doing. It was a matter of staying in it. I dug in so well.

“That’s fairytale stuff, I’ve played two Opens and to be going to Augusta, I just can’t get my head round it. You can have a great career in this game and never get to go to Augusta, so I cannot believe it.”

Going into the final round in a share of the lead with England’s Joe Dean on 13 under, Forrest birdied the fourth, but made bogeys at three, six and eight as he dropped two shots off the top.

However, Forrest showed excellent resilience and moved back into a share of the lead as he started his back nine with three birdies and a bogey in five holes.

And he got the job done with a tidy up-and-down at the last to card a closing one-under 70 and take home the £480,000 first prize.

A sparse crowd of 7,071 – which led to the closure of 15,600-capacity Sandy Park’s North Terrace for the first time for a Prem game – watched Exeter make a superb start as Vintcent charged down Zack Henry’s kick to go in under the posts.

Those who did attend saw the try-scoring start continue as Wade levelled the score three minutes later – the Red Bulls’ winger went in for his 98th Prem try after some excellent Newcastle passing.

Slade was at the centre of Exeter’s next two tries, setting up Vintcent for the Italy forward’s second in the 11th minute before selling a superb dummy to coast in from 40 metres nine minutes later – but only after Wade had put in Max Hicks to briefly give Newcastle the lead.

Exeter had Ethan Roots sin-binned for a no-arms tackle on Red Bulls full-back Harrison Obatoyinbo 14 minutes from the break and, moments before his return, Wade went in for his second after Sammy Arnold had broken through the Exeter line.

Summer-signing Sam Harris – making his Exeter league debut at full-back – dived in four minutes after the restart to restore Exeter’s lead but it lasted just four minutes before Wade raced over from 40 metres for his third score after Slade’s wayward pass, reaching his century of league tries.

The hosts thought they had scored a fifth try soon after when Stephen Varney dotted down from close range but replays showed a forward pass from Slade to Harris in the build-up.

Exeter took the lead with 16 minutes left when Slade kicked a 40-metre penalty and the result was secured in the dying moments when Georgian forward Tchumbadze got on the end of a maul from a close-range line-out.

Newcastle head coach Dan McFarland told BBC Sport:

“Every time you lose, you’re disappointed.

“Both weeks I’ve been proud of a lot of what we’ve done, very proud of the effort that we put in there, very proud that we went out and played the brand of rugby that we want to play going forward.

“The fact that we’ve come to last season’s finalists and lost narrowly at this stage is at the same time disappointing and positive in knowing that what we’re trying to do we’re, putting in place.”

Exeter: Harris; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Butt, Wyatt; Skinner, Varney; Burger, Yeandle, Iosefa-Scott, Wilson, Jenkins (capt), Roots, Vintcent, Fisilau

Replacements: Gulley, Goodrick-Clarke, Tchumbadze, Hooper, James, Wolstenholme, Haydon-Wood, Wimbush

Yellow card: Ethan Roots (26)

Newcastle: Obatoyinbo; Wade, Hearle, Arnold, Kok; Henry, Benitez Cruz; Rakete-Stones, Togiatama, Millar Mills, Usher, Jordan, Hicks, Christie (capt), Sotutu

Replacements: Adejimi, Brocklebank, Harper, Molina, Leatherbarrow, Graham, Elliott, Connon

Yellow card: Adam Brocklebank (76)

Referee: George Selwood

After weeks of acrimony at Celtic, the full-time scenes at Fir Park on Sunday provided welcome cheer for a disgruntled fanbase.

Off the back of three straight defeats before the international break – two of them inflicted by rivals Rangers – Martin O’Neill’s side returned to winning ways as they deservedly beat struggling Motherwell 2-0 and returned to the Scottish Premiership summit.

Camilo Duran fired the visitors in front early on and midfielder Benjamin Nygren made sure of victory in the second half.

On top of the performance and result, influential winger Jota made his long-awaited return from injury after almost 18 months on the sidelines and it was the Portuguese who led the post-match celebrations.

Jota had been introduced as a 74th-minute substitute and almost provided an assist with his first touches in a lively cameo.

“I was waiting on this for a long time,” he told Sky Sports. “Just happy to be back. I’ve been working hard, the guys have been helping me as well. It was just the normal nerves, but after I stepped on the pitch everything goes well.”

The 27-year-old was asked about the mental toll of his long spell out of action.

“Imagine if someone takes away your child and I’ve got my child back today – that’s how I’ve been feeling the last year,” he said.

“I found my child again today and I just want to keep it as long as I can.

“I’m feeling very good and I’m ready to play more and more and help the team. I know what I can do.”