Texan Justin Leonard, named by a magazine last August as one of the world's 25 most eligible bachelors, today earned himself another distinction - youngest winner of the Open championship for 18 years.

On a dramatic final day of the 126th championship at Royal Troon, 25-year-old Leonard also became the first player for 72 years to win the title after starting the day five shots behind.

But while the man known as `Jasper' celebrated his first Major title, it was heartache again for Sweden's Jesper Parnevik.

Three years ago just along the Ayrshire coast at Turnberry, Parnevik stood on the final tee three strokes clear - but did not know it. He had not looked at a leaderboard throughout and thought he may need another birdie.

In going for it he bogeyed, then was pipped by a spectacular birdie-eagle-par finish from Nick Price.

This time, Parnevik, not making that mistake again, was fully aware that with six holes to play he was two shots ahead.

He had produced some inspired golf all week, but just when he needed a little more Leonard, a professional for less than three years, produced the best stretch of holes of his life.

The door was opened to the Dallas golfer when Parnevik bogeyed the 465-yard 13th, but how wonderfully Leonard took the opportunity. Two 15ft putts, firstly for par at the 15th then for a birdie at the long next, were followed by a 30-footer at the 17th and he led on his own for the first time all week.

Behind him, Parnevik missed a four-foot birdie chance at the 16th then bogeyed the 17th, and that effectively was it unless he could sink his second shot at the 452-yard 18th. He could not - in fact, he bogeyed the hole and Parnevik, four times runner-up in America this season as well as at Turnberry, was the nearly man again.<

Leonard's majestic closing 65, one outside the course record and one outside the best finishing round ever by a champion, made him the fifth successive American to win at Troon following Arnold Palmer, Tom Weiskopf, Tom Watson and Mark Calcavecchia.

He finished with a 12-under-par total of 272, with Parnevik's closing five for a 73 dropping him alongside Ulsterman Darren Clarke into joint second place.

Halfway leader Clarke could never recover from going out of bounds with an iron off the second tee. He was always just off the pace after that, but it was still a marvellous week for the 28-year-old.

Leonard won £250,000 as well as the famous claret jug and sealed his Ryder Cup debut. Parnevik and Clarke took home £150,000 each.

American Jim Furyk (70) was fourth on four under and Irishman Padraig Harrington charged into joint fifth, along with Trinidad's Stephen Ames, one shot further back after a closing 67.

World No 1 Tiger Woods, the 21-year-old trying to become the youngest winner for nearly a century, was never a factor on the final day. After equalling the course record with his third round of 64, the US Masters champion managed only a 74 including a triple-bogey six at the shortest hole in Major championship golf, the 126-yard `Postage Stamp' eighth.

Parnevik led by two strokes from Clarke at the start of the day, but the 1990 Irish amateur champion drove to within putting distance of the green at the 364-yard first and two-putted, whereas Parnevik had to work hard for his par four.

His approach found sand, but not for the first or last time he splashed out expertly to 18 inches.

After Clarke's double-bogey six at the second, incredibly both he and Parnevik hit the flagstick with their pitches to the third. Parnevik's stopped inches away and his tap-in birdie took him four strokes clear.

He got up and down from sand again at the 210-yard fifth, and after running up a six at the long sixth - his second shot caught a bunker just short of the green - his second to the seventh was gathered by the flag on the first bounce and deposited at the holeside again.

By this time, Leonard was on a fabulous charge. Five adrift with a round to play, he had a hat-trick of birdies from the second, and after a bogey at the short fifth grabbed three more in the next four holes.

The former Walker Cup player and American amateur champion did not have to hole anything longer than five feet for those, and his outward 31 put him only one behind.

It looked like being better than that for him when Parnevik spun from the left side of the `Postage Stamp' eighth green into the cavernous bunker on the other side.

But again his bunker play and putting - the most improved part of his game since his switch to the States - came to his rescue, a tricky eight-footer rescuing his par three.

With Clarke bogeying the ninth to drop to eight under it was developing into a two-horse race, but first Leonard then Parnevik bogeyed the 10th after wayward approaches.

Parnevik's lead became two shots courtesy of a 25-footer at the difficult 11th, but he failed to get up and down after spinning off the 13th green.

Leonard must have been encouraged to see that, but the pressure was also getting to him and he left himself a 15-footer for par at the 15th then one of similar length for a birdie at the 16th.

Courageously, he made both, and the second gave him the joint lead for the first time in the entire championship.

It was a great time to do it, and when Parnevik missed his four-foot birdie attempt at the 16th the pendulum had swung - for the last time.

Final collated totals and four-round scores in the 126th Open Championship at Royal Troon, Scotland (Gbr and Irl unless stated):

(x) denotes amateur

272 J Leonard (USA) 69 66 72 65 (wins £250,000)

275 D Clarke 67 66 71 71, J Parnevik (Swe) 70 66 66 73 (£150,000 each)

279 J Furyk (USA) 67 72 70 70 (£90,000)

280 P Harrington 75 69 69 67, S Ames (Tri) 74 69 66 71 (£62,500 each)

281 P O'Malley (Aus) 73 70 70 68, E Romero (Arg) 74 68 67 72, F Couples (USA) 69 68 70 74 (£40,666.67 each)

282 D Love III (USA) 70 71 74 67, R Goosen (Rsa) 75 69 70 68, F Nobilo (Nzl) 74 72 68 68, T Kite (USA) 72 67 74 69, M Calcavecchia (USA) 74 67 72 69, S Maruyama (Jpn) 74 69 70 69, E Els (Rsa) 75 69 69 69, T Watson (USA) 71 70 70 71, L Westwood 73 70 67 72, R Allenby (Aus) 76 68 66 72 (£24,300 each)

283 J M Olazabal (Spa) 75 68 73 67, B Faxon (USA) 77 67 72 67, M James 76 67 70 70, S Appleby (Aus) 72 72 68 71 (£14,500 each)

284 T Lehman (USA) 74 72 72 66, D A Russell 75 72 68 69, J Haas (USA) 71 70 73 70, C Montgomerie 76 69 69 70, P Mickelson (USA) 76 68 69 71, I Woosnam 71 73 69 71, P Lonard (Aus) 72 70 69 73, T Woods (USA) 72 74 64 74 (£10,362.50 each)

285 M McNulty (Zim) 78 67 72 68

286 R Davis (Aus) 73 73 70 70, D Duval (USA) 73 69 73 71, J Lomas 72 71 69 74

287 A Magee (USA) 70 75 72 70, G Norman (Aus) 69 73 70 75

288 M O'Meara (USA) 73 73 74 68, J Kernohan (USA) 76 70 74 68, R Russell 72 72 74 70, M Bradley (USA) 72 73 73 70, V Singh (Fij) 77 69 70 72, B Langer (Ger) 72 74 69 73

289 J Coceres (Arg) 76 70 71 72, J Kelly (USA) 76 68 72 73, D Tapping 71 66 78 74, C Strange (USA) 71 71 70 77

290 J Payne 74 71 74 71, R Boxall 75 71 72 72, S Jones (USA) 76 71 68 75

291 C Pavin (USA) 78 69 76 68, P Mitchell 75 69 76 71, W Riley (Aus) 74 71 75 71, N Faldo 71 73 75 72, P Senior (Aus) 76 70 73 72, G Turner (Nzl) 76 71 72 72, A Cabrera (Arg) 70 70 76 75, J Maggert (USA) 76 69 71 75

292 P Stewart (USA) 73 74 71 74

293 (x) B Howard 70 74 76 73, J Nicklaus (USA) 73 74 71 75

294 S Stricker (USA) 72 73 74 75, P Teravainen (USA) 74 72 73 75, J Spence 78 69 72 75, T Purtzer (USA) 72 71 73 78

295 P McGinley 76 71 77 71, P-U Johansson (Swe) 72 75 73 75

296 T Tolles (USA) 77 68 75 76, G Clark 74 72 72 78

298 B Andrade (USA) 72 72 78 76