Jose Maria Olazabal won his 20th European Tour title in amazing fashion with a sensational finish in the Omega Hong Kong Open at Fanling.

Olazabal was two shots behind with three to play but picked up birdies at the final three holes to pip Norway's Henrik Bjornstad to the £80,000 first prize.

The 35-year-old holed from 15 feet on the 16th and 17th and then saved the best for last, firing a stunning second shot to within inches of the hole on the 18th for the winning birdie to cap an excellent two weeks.

The Spaniard finished second last week in Taiwan, just a shot behind winner Jarmo Sandelin, and appears back to the sort of form that brought him US Masters titles in 1994 and 1999.

A closing round of 64 gave Olazabal a 22-under-par total of 262, one clear of Bjornstad with Australian Adam Scott a shot further back after a bogey on the final hole for the second day running.

England's Mark Foster was another stroke adrift in fourth as he made a successful step up from winning the Challenge Tour this year.

"It feels great," said Olazabal who moved into second on the Order of Merit after the first two counting events for the 2002 money list.

"It's fantastic to win again, especially the way it happened.

"When I was playing the 15th two shots behind my caddy Phil (Morbey) said we needed three birdies to finish and that is obviously very difficult.

"I managed to hole two big putts on the 16th and 17th and that opened the door for the victory and it was a magnificent shot on the 18th.

"I had 175 yards to go with a five iron but I had to hit it below some of the trees and didn't have much room to stop the ball on the green.

"It was well executed but you need to be lucky sometimes and it just caught the fringe of the green which killed the speed, and that's why it finished so close. It was a great shot but you need to be a little bit lucky."

Bjornstad began the day one ahead of Scott but the young Aussie quickly moved into a lead he held for most of the round with birdies at the second and third.

The 21-year-old added further birdies at the seventh, ninth and 12th but could not shake off the chasing pack, Bjornstad recovering from a bogey on the seventh with three birdies in a row from the next and two more on 12 and 13 to draw level with Scott.

Olazabal had remained in touch with five birdies of his own but looked out of the running until his amazing finishing flourish.

Such a performance seemed a long way off as recently as a month ago when his caddy urged Olazabal to seek help to find a cure for the wayward long game that had plagued him for years.

Fifteen minutes spent with coach Pete Cowen the following week at the Volvo Masters confirmed that Olazabal was keeping the club head closed on the backswing and there was suddenly light at the end of a long tunnel.

"I will still think it has been a poor season as these two weeks belong to the following year, but to finish like this makes the year better, no question," added Olazabal.

"The improvement in my driving the last two weeks has been excellent. Once you start hitting more fairways you are able to control the ball and go for the flags and that's the difference.

"You need consistency to start feeling your game is where it was before and that's what has happened these two weeks. That's what I'm going to take home with me. The way I struck the ball was as important as the victory.

"Maybe it would have been nice to have a few more tournaments to play in but I'm going to go home for a rest. It's been a tough year but it's nice to have a finish like this."

Scott and Bjornstad no doubt did not share those sentiments and Scott was annoyed that a poor tee shot on the 18th cost him a chance to match Olazabal's finish.

"I hit one poor shot and that's cost me a chance of the tournament," said Scott, who won the first event of the year in South Africa but has seen several other chances slip away in final rounds.

"I mishit it off the tee and caught the bunker. You can make four but you need to make three to win it and that's why I'm disappointed.

"I played well again this week but I didn't make any putts. I hit so many shots inside three feet where I got half my birdies and took advantage of the par fives.

"Seeing Olly roll one in on 16 was no surprise and I knew he would make that one on 17, that was a certainty. He was due, I played with him on the first two days and he made nothing either.

"There's nothing you can do, it's meant to be. I'm sure I'll get my fair share."

Bjornstad, who missed from 30 feet for birdie on the 18th to force a play-off, added: "I'm happy with the way I played, Olly finished great to win. He just came from behind and took it away from us.

"At one stage I thought it was between Adam and I but it's a nice finish and I hope I can continue to play well. I can't complain about this week."

There were no complaints either from Foster who recovered from a double bogey on the 10th with three late birdies to claim fourth place.

"There was just one obvious mistake when I missed my tee shot on the 10th but I was pleased with myself more than anything, the way I held it together well," said the 26-year-old from Worksop, a close friend of neighbour Lee Westwood.

"It's the first time in this situation so it's nice to finish the job off. After last week (he missed the cut after rounds of 80 and 75) I would definitely have taken fourth place. I totally forgot about last week, which is not as easy as it sounds, and this is a great result.

"The more times you get there the better you can do so for my first effort I think I did alright.

"I pick Lee's brain a bit and he is brilliant in those situations, but I think he would say himself that he wasn't that great at first so you've got to start somewhere.

"The plan was to get out here and get a start and now I've got one I can't wait to get home, have a break, and then get at it in South Africa."

Collated scores and totals after final round of Omega Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

(x) denotes amateurs

262 JM Olazabal (Spa) 65 69 64 64 (£80,170)

263 H Bjornstad (Nor) 66 69 61 67 (£55,246)

264 A Scott (Aus) 64 67 66 67 (£30,762)

265 M Foster 66 65 67 67 (£24,803)

266 C Pettersson (Swe) 67 64 68 67 (£19,836)

267 A Marshall 68 66 68 65, A Forsbrand (Swe) 67 64 68 68, M Pilkington 69 68 62 68

268 J Sandelin (Swe) 68 70 66 64, W-T Yeh (Taiwan) 66 63 72 67, S Dyson 67 64 70 67, B Davis 70 67 64 67

269 T Jaidee (Tha) 67 70 67 65, M Campbell (Nzl) 66 69 68 66, G Evans 70 66 65 68

270 A Pitts (USA) 68 67 70 65, T Levet (Fra) 70 67 66 67, S Yates 66 66 70 68, L-W Zhang (Chn) 67 67 68 68

271 C Cevaer (Fra) 68 69 67 67

272 M Olander (Swe) 68 65 71 68, S Lindskog (Swe) 66 70 68 68, T Wiratchant (Tha) 70 66 68 68, S Scahill (Nzl) 68 67 68 69, D Terblanche (Rsa) 70 63 69 70

273 W-C Liang (Chn) 69 66 73 65, P McGinley 65 66 74 68, A Meeks (USA) 71 66 68 68, T Sriroj (Tha) 69 69 66 69, JF Remesy (Fra) 67 68 68 70, M Mouland 67 71 65 70, N O'Hern (Aus) 67 68 67 71, R Muntz (Ned) 69 65 67 72

274 R Coles 70 69 70 65, J Rystrom (Swe) 67 67 73 67, P Sjoland (Swe) 66 73 68 67, B Ruangkit (Tha) 69 68 68 69, M Cort 66 67 71 70, A Kang (Kor) 71 64 69 70, Z Moe (Myanmar) 66 64 71 73

275 B Lane 66 69 73 67, A Atwal (Ind) 70 69 68 68, J Van de Velde (Fra) 71 66 69 69, J Lomas 72 67 67 69, A Wall 66 67 72 70, A Singh (Ind) 70 67 67 71, G Rosales (Phi) 70 66 67 72, G Havret (Fra) 71 67 66 71

276 S Ishigaki (Jpn) 70 67 71 68, P Fowler (Aus) 67 66 71 72

277 J Randhawa (Ind) 70 67 71 69, J Donaldson 72 66 70 69, T-C Wang (Taiwan) 67 69 71 70, C Williams (Rsa) 66 71 68 72

278 S Hansen (Den) 68 70 71 69, C Pottier (Fra) 68 70 71 69, S Dodd 71 65 72 70, C-B Lam (Sing) 71 67 65 75

279 P Del Olmo (Mex) 67 69 72 71, T Dier (Ger) 68 68 72 71, S Khan 68 69 71 71, E Canonica (Ita) 71 67 70 71, J Stewart (Hkg) 65 71 71 72, K Eriksson (Swe) 72 66 69 72, G Hanrahan (USA) 69 69 69 72, P Golding 69 70 68 72, G Rusnak (USA) 71 68 67 73, C-T Yeh (Taiwan) 70 68 67 74

280 V Bhandari (Ind) 70 69 73 68, A Johl (Ind) 73 66 72 69, W-T Lu (Taiwan) 71 68 71 70, D Zarate (Phi) 68 70 71 71, G-S Choi (Kor) 69 65 72 74, K Felton (Aus) 69 68 68 75

281 F Quinn (USA) 70 69 71 71, J Hobday (Rsa) 71 67 69 74

282 J Spence 72 67 70 73

284 C Wi (Kor) 69 70 74 71

287 G Ghei (Ind) 74 63 79 71