The rise and rise of Justin Rose - from the horror of 21 successive missed cuts at the start of his professional career - reached new heights at Woburn on Sunday.

Still eight weeks away from his 22nd birthday, Rose stormed to a brilliant one-stroke victory in the Victor Chandler British Masters.

Six strokes goff the lead at halfway, the Hampshire youngster produced two closing rounds of 65 for his first-ever victory on home soil and fourth title of the season. Not even Tiger Woods has managed that many.

This latest and best win came at the expense of the player who had allowed him to stay in his house all week, Ian Poulter.

Level with three to play after a terrific ding-dong battle - they had 15 birdies between them in the first 15 holes - Poulter three-putted the 16th and then missed a seven-foot chance to force a play-off on the final green.

Rose, whose 19 under par total in Germany two weeks ago left him a stroke behind play-off pair Woods and Colin Montgomerie, was 19 under again, but this time it earned him the £208,330 top prize.

Poulter's compensation was £138,330, which should be enough to dissuade him from sending Rose a bill for his board and lodgings, while overnight leader Phillip Price was third and Montgomerie fourth.

Rose first came to worldwide prominence, of course, when he was fourth in the 1998 Open at Birkdale as a 17-year-old amateur.

He turned professional that very night, but things then turned horribly sour.

He travelled the globe trying to find his feet, but it took him nearly 12 months before he finally made his first cut.

Rose finished the season 197th on the Order of Merit with just £10,905 and he had to go back to the tour qualifying school again the following year when he climbed only to 122nd place.

But while such failures would have broken many of his age, Rose never gave up and two second places at the start of last year stopped the descent into oblivion.

Rose finished 2001 in 33rd place on the Order of Merit and has simply gone from strength to strength.

His first two wins came in South Africa in January and February, then last month he triumphed in the Chunichi Crowns tournament in Japan and put up that superb fight with Woods and Montgomerie.

He was three behind Price setting off today, but birdied the first two holes and picked up further shots at the fifth and seventh to turn in 32.

Poulter, out in 33, had taken over the lead from Price by then, but they drew level when Poulter bogeyed the 13th and with the Welsh Ryder Cup player falling out of it with a double bogey there it became a match play duel in the sun.

At the short 14th Poulter holed from a bunker for a birdie two, but Rose followed him in with a curling 10-foot putt and his four closing pars were good enough. Just.

It was a disappointing last day for Price, but not for Montgomerie, who now heads for the US Open in the back of successive finishes of third, second, second and fourth.

His caddie Andy Prodger was sporting one of the "Be Nice To Monty" badges being issued by an American golf magazine with the second major of the year in mind.

"He'll be wearing one of each side of his hat in New York," said Montgomerie, who supports anything that might reduce the heckling he has received in the States.

Low round of the week was a closing 64 from Kent's Roger Chapman - after some help from his 15-year-old son Christopher.

"He walked round with me yesterday and gave me a few putting drills to do once I finished," said Chapman after finishing on 10 under.

"He told me to keep my head down for longer and put two tees down on the practice green and got me to concentrate on pushing the clubhead through them.

"All of a sudden I started holing some putts and it carried on. I had 29 compared to 35 in the third round."

His round does not count as a course record because placing the ball on the wet fairways was allowed all week.

Collated final totals in the Victor Chandler British Masters at the Marquess Course, Woburn, England

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

(x) denotes amateur

269 Justin Rose 70 69 65 65 (£208,330)

270 Ian Poulter 68 67 67 68 (£138,880)

273 Phillip Price 68 65 68 72 (£78,250)

274 Colin Montgomerie 70 69 68 67 (£62,500)

275 Gary Evans 69 69 66 71 (£53,000)

277 Mark Roe 71 68 70 68, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 70 70 69 68, David Carter 72 70 67 68, Greg Owen 73 67 68 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 68 69 67 73

278 Roger Chapman 75 68 71 64, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 69 72 66, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 70 70 70 68, Paul Lawrie 70 71 68 69, Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 67 69 70, Padraig Harrington 73 70 65 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 72 67 68 71, Jamie Spence 72 68 67 71

279 John Bickerton 69 71 70 69, Sandy Lyle 72 65 70 72

280 Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 74 70 71 65, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 70 74 69 67, Gary Orr 71 71 70 68, Jorge Berendt (Arg) 70 73 68 69, Paul McGinley 72 72 65 71, Stuart Little 72 72 65 71, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 71 66 72, Philip Golding 69 67 71 73

281 Simon Dyson 70 72 72 67, Mark Foster 70 70 73 68, Bradley Dredge 71 73 69 68, Chris Gane 69 75 69 68, Malcolm Mackenzie 73 70 69 69, Santiago Luna (Spa) 67 71 72 71, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 71 71 68 71, Simon Khan 72 65 72 72, Robert Coles 69 72 67 73

282 Paul Broadhurst 72 68 74 68, Steve Webster 70 71 71 70, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 74 70 68 70, Paul Eales 70 71 69 72, Olle Karlsson (Swe) 69 71 69 73

283 Nick Dougherty 72 72 70 69, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 69 75 70, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 71 70 72 70, Lee Westwood 71 70 71 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Swe) 71 72 69 71

284 Marc Farry (Fra) 69 73 75 67, Andrew Oldcorn 74 70 73 67, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 73 70 72 69, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 69 72 73 70, Sven Struver (Ger) 69 72 72 71, Sam Torrance 71 68 69 76

285 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 72 74 67, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 71 71 71, Ian Garbutt 75 67 71 72, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 72 70 70 73, Jamie Donaldson 70 74 68 73

286 Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 71 68 76 71, Des Smyth 69 74 72 71, Brian Davis 70 74 71 71, Steen Tinning (Den) 71 72 71 72, Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 72 71 73, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 71 72 74

287 Tobias Dier (Ger) 72 67 79 69, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 75 69 72 71, Gary Clark 72 72 72 71, Yeh Wei-tze (Tai) 71 71 73 72, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 76 68 71 72, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 75 68 71 73, Shaun Webster 76 68 69 74, Stephen Gallacher 73 69 70 75

288 Gordon Brand Jnr 70 74 74 70, Ian Woosnam 72 71 74 71, Elliot Boult (Nzl) 74 70 72 72, Darren Clarke 73 70 70 75, Kenneth Ferrie 71 72 70 75

289 Adam Mednick (Swe) 72 71 72 74, (x) Barry Hume 69 74 71 75

290 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 74 68 76 72, Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 71 73 74 72, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 72 70 73 75

291 Arjun Atwal (Ind) 70 72 76 73, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 74 75 75

292 Carl Suneson (Spa) 75 69 72 76