A tearful Miles Tunnicliff granted his late mother's dying wish yesterday when he lifted his first European Tour title at the Great North Open at Slaley Hall.

Tunnicliff picked up a cheque for £100,000, his biggest payday by more than £83,000, after romping away from a sub-standard field to win by four shots from Sven Struver.

The 33-year-old Englishman, who lives in Marbella, is still grieving the death of mum Pam from cancer two weeks ago.

But after she implored him shortly before she died to win a major tournament, Tunnicliff fired a final-round 69 - the only sub-70 score yesterday - to finish on 279, nine under par.

He said: "It's very hard to speak right now. I feel numb. My mother gave me the strength and inspiration to win this.

"I shed a tear twice this morning. I couldn't get her out of my mind, and at that stage I thought I was going to struggle.

"My mother always backed me. She followed me through all the rounds at the Tour School and she gave me a lot of support."

Before yesterday, Tunnicliff's largest win since he turned pro eight years ago was £16,830 at the Scandinavian Masters in 1997.

He has been forced to eke out a meagre living on the Challenge Tour in the last two-and-a-half years - his total earnings since the beginning of 2000 were just £46,000 going into the Great North Open - but this win secured his European Tour card until the end of 2004.

Tunnicliff added: "I thought about packing in golf last year. I had a wrist operation and I wasn't playing like I had before it. But my wrist got better and I kept plugging away, and here I am."

After starting the day as co-leader on six under with Struver and David Gilford, Tunnicliff showed admirable character to bounce back after bogeying the first.

He enjoyed two large slices of luck early on, chipping in at the fifth and the eighth - "Someone was looking down on me," said Tunnicliff - to open a four-shot lead over Malcolm Mackenzie and Bradley Dredge.

And as his would-be rivals foundered, he remained strong, belying his woeful run of form in recent years.

Tunnicliff competed in just two European Tour events last year and his best finish in 2000 was tied 28th in the Scottish PGA Championship.

But he held his game together well, despite shouldering the unfamiliar pressure of leading a Tour event, and although he dropped a shot at the ninth he got it back with a birdie at 11.

Mackenzie threatened to be Tunnicliff's main challenger when he shot successive birdies to move to five under after 12. But he bogeyed the 14th and was unable to mount a late charge.

Mackenzie said: "I had my chances over the last few holes but I missed a couple of short putts. But it's nice to know I can still get into contention."

Dredge was also left to regret two missed birdie putts, both of which went agonisingly close to dropping, as he fired a 70 to finish on four under with Mackenzie.

Struver went out in 39, three over, to drop back before rallying but the most dramatic collapse was that suffered by Gilford.

The two-time former Ryder Cup player, partnering Tunnicliff in the last group out, fired an horrific 78 to finish the tournament on level par as a day that began promisingly ended in disaster.

Hartlepool's Graeme Storm had an eventful but ultimately disappointing end to his local event, carding a 77 to close with a total of 298, ten-over-par.

Storm bogeyed the first three holes but responded immediately with three birdies. However, a triple bogey seven at the eighth proved his undoing, and a double bogey at 16 and another dropped shot at the last rounded off a miserable tournament for him.

Ken Ferrie, from Ashington, shot 79 yesterday to finish the tournament on 13 over.

Meanwhile, the Great North Open is likely to be moved to a different slot in the European Tour calendar next year after the timing of the event dissuaded many top names from competing.

None of the world's top 100 was at Slaley and tournament bosses are keen that the 2003 event does not take place immediately after the US Open.

David Hart, marketing director for organisers Nova International, said: "To change the date, we'll have to get a title sponsor. That will be difficult but we're going to roll our sleeves up and work hard.

"We're working very closely with the European Tour on this issue, and the Tour and Nova get on very well on a business footing. They're fundamentally committed to keeping an event in the North-East of England."