DAMIEN McGRANE admitted he had fulfilled a childhood dream after securing his first European Tour title with an impressive, nine-stroke victory at the Volvo China Open yesterday.

The 37-year-old from Meath seemed to thrive in the wet and windy conditions at the Beijing CBD International Golf Club as he carded a one-over-par 73 in the final round to ease to an emphatic win.

He finished on 10 under par.

The leaderboard was littered with bogeys as McGrane's competitors struggled to adapt to the conditions, and by the turn he already held a commanding, four-shot lead.

"Every player that plays on the European Tour wants to win a tournament, and now I have won the world is my oyster," he said.

"It is what I have grown up for since I was a little boy, and hopefully I can go on and win more tournaments."

The victory gave McGrane €232,121, lifting him to sixth on the European money list, and capped a rich vein of form that includes a top-10 finish at the Portuguese Open earlier this month, and runner-up at the Indian Masters in February.

Yesterday McGrane had a steady run on the front nine, managing to drop just two shots, on the second and eighth, while playing partner Oliver Wilson, who had started the day three strokes off the lead, saw his challenge fade with five bogeys in his first six holes.

The 27-year-old from Mansfield struggled from the off, bogeying his first two holes.

He bogeyed the par-four fourth, and when his approach shot to set up a par putt on the fifth rolled down the other side of the green leaving him to card another bogey, Wilson had slipped down the leaderboard.

But the turning point for McGrane was on the par-five ninth when, with his third shot, he hit a seven-iron just short of the green.

He then chipped on nicely and the ball rolled towards the hole, struck the pin and went in for a birdie.

That gave McGrane a four-stroke cushion and he never looked back, carding a birdie on the 11th and a bogey on the last.

"It was possibly the defining moment for me," he added. "The ball rolled straight down the green, hit the flag and went into the hole.

"To win golf tournaments you need a defining moment and possibly that was mine.

"It is an amazing feeling to win my first tournament, I have been talking about winning for a long time and this week everything went my way.

"I had good fortune and I loved the course, the bad weather didn't affect my game in any way today.

"Now I have my first win on Tour which is very big for me."

Graeme McDowell hung on well in the conditions to finish in a tie for fifth on level par, still 10 shots behind his compatriot. That was worth €49,860.

England's Simon Griffiths also adapted well with the conditions to climb the leaderboard and finish in a share of second place with Wilson and Frenchman Michael Lorenzo-Vera.

The Asian Tour regular carded just two bogeys on the front nine and then made two birdies against two bogeys coming home to finish with a two-over-par 74.

"I knew the scores would be high out there," said Griffiths. "I woke up in the morning and saw the grey skies and it was going to be difficult for everyone.

"You just have to try your best and luckily I hit the ball good off the tee and I got half decent scores."

Mark Brown carded a costly triple bogey on the 18th to throw away a potential second place finish and returned to the clubhouse tied for third.

The New Zealander had been steady throughout his round, dropping just two shots but that all went to waste on the last hole as he finished alongside last year's champion Markus Brier and McDowell.

David Howell was unable to follow up his impressive second-place finish at the Portuguese Open two weeks ago as he carded a seven-over-par 79 to finish tied for 28th overall.