NORFOLK’S Andrew Marshall has been bowled over by the reaction to his Legends Tour victory at the Senior Italian Open.

The Dereham Golf Club member clinched the biggest win of his career when surging past 2002 Ryder Cup star Philip Price on the final day at San Domenico Golf in Puglia.

Marshall trailed by four strokes going into the final day but produced a brilliant six-under-par round of 66 to storm to a two-shot triumph – and earn himself a €60,000.00 payday.

The former Norfolk county player, 52, said: “There must have been 80-odd messages when I picked the phone up after all the champagne and speeches.

“Ex-pro-am partners, members from the golf club. I had a text from Thomas Bjorn. It’s been brilliant.”

It was the same from Marshall’s peers on the Legends Tour who were delighted to see him achieve his breakthrough win in elite company.

He said: “There was a party in the evening at the hotel – everyone I saw said ‘Well played, really pleased’. They shook my hand or gave me a pat on the back.

“Next day at the airport, Ian Woosnam said ‘good effort, really happy for you’ – that sort of thing. It’s been brilliant.”

Marshall has had a few near-misses during his career on the European Tour and Legends Tour, so it was satisfying to get the monkey off his back at last.

He added: “It feels like when I was a teenager and I hadn’t won any county events and then I won one. I’d always been second a few times or third – so it’s a bit like that again. But it’s quite a big deal because you look at how competitive the Legends Tour is now.”

Marshall could hardly have played better on the final day as he followed up scores of 67 and 69 in the 54-hole event.

With playing partner Price unable to recapture the form of his opening two days, Marshall powered into contention with a brilliant birdie burst.

He hit the front on the back nine and kept his cool to close out the tournament with a polished par that left him 14-under-par, two clear of joint runners-up Johan Edfors and Lionel Alexandre, with Price dropping back into a tie for fourth.

Marshall said: “I was playing lovely, just riding the wave in. I played so nicely, it was almost flawless golf.”

The win lifted Marshall into 11th spot on the overall Order of Merit ahead of the season’s closing four tournaments, which start with the European Senior Masters at La Manga in Spain from November 7-9.