India's Arjun Atwal held off European number one Retief Goosen and an imminent thunderstorm to claim his second European tour title in the Carlsberg Malaysian Open.

Atwal carded a final-round 66 for a 24-under-par total of 260 at the Mines Resort in Kuala Lumpur, four shots ahead of Goosen and unknown Australian Brad Kennedy.

The 29-year-old, who became the first Indian golfer to win on tour when he took the Singapore Masters title 12 months ago, finished in style by chipping in on the last to pick up the winner's cheque for £113,000.

Scotland's Dean Robertson also chipped in on the 18th to claim fourth place and a welcome return to form since missing almost all of last season after being diagnosed as suffering from clinical depression.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington was unable to mount a last-day charge and closed with a 73 for a 12-under total on his return to action after a nine-week break, one shot ahead of Ryder Cup team-mate Paul McGinley.

Just 20 minutes after the last putt dropped the heavens opened as the predicted thunderstorm burst over the clubhouse - but even the torrential downpour could not dampen Atwal's spirits.

"This makes me believe in myself more," said Atwal, struggling to make himself heard as the thunder crashed overhead.

"Last year's win was great, but then I didn't play so well and started to doubt myself.

"This tells me I am good enough to play on the European Tour or any tour I choose."

Thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday afternoon meant the third round had to be carried over into Sunday, and it was always touch and go whether the final round would be completed on time.

"We felt a few drops of rain on the 18th tee, and I told my caddie to rush things - then I pulled my drive on o the ninth fairway," added Atwal.

"It took a while to get my yardage from there - but when I hit the second shot on to the fringe of the green I knew I had it won.

"One of the officials then came over and told us we'd better hurry up, and Retief's caddy had already taken the flag out - so I thought let's try and chip it in."

Robertson's chip in was considerably more difficult but equally welcome after a difficult three years for the popular Scot.

Ironically it was playing in the World Cup here at the Mines Resort in 1999 that could have sparked Robertson's problems, because he fell ill on returning home after representing Scotland alongside Colin Montgomerie.

He was unable to eat or sleep properly for three months, and his weight tumbled to under 10st. Although he returned to the tour, by July 2001 he began to recognise he was unwell.

In January 2002 Robertson travelled to play a tournament in Australia but realised he could not compete and flew straight back home, not returning until seven months later in Switzerland.

Robertson, playing on a medical exemption this season, said: "I played better the first two days - but the last two days I really took my chances well.

"I was determined to stay patient and not get agitated and dig in there and try and get a good finish.

"I felt my game was all over the place on the back nine. But someone was smiling on me, especially with the tee shots on the 13th and 18th."

His drive on the 13th was pulled in among trees to the left of the fairway. But he found a good lie and escaped with par, and on the last a wayward tee shot ricocheted off the trees back to the edge of the fairway.

From there his approach flew over the back of the green. But a superb chip found the bottom of the cup, and there would be few on the European Tour to begrudge the Paisley golfer a change in fortune.

The 32-year-old said: "I'm absolutely thrilled.

"Some people say this place owes me something, but it doesn't owe me anything. I was happy to come back and I've been well rewarded for coming back. I've loved every minute of it.

"I've made the cut in five of my six events in 2003 and had a top 10 in Singapore and a fourth place here, which was not what I was expecting. It's a huge chunk out of what I need to keep my card, and I hope I can relax now into the rest of the season."

Atwal had earlier completed a 67 in the delayed third round to take a two-shot lead into the final 18 holes, Goosen his nearest challenger after birdies at the last two holes.

The leading duo carded three birdies each on the front nine before Goosen closed the gap to one for the third time with a birdie on the 10th.

The 13th hole proved to be decisive and unlucky for some, however, Goosen carving his tee shot way right into the water and failing to save par despite a superb third shot to 10 feet.

"The 13th was a terrible 2-iron," admitted Goosen, the world number five.

"That was a bit of a turning point. Once again I had a chance of a par but left it short.

"The greens really slowed up this afternoon, and I putted badly. I couldn't stroke the ball hard enough. When you putt on quick greens for the last 10 years and they suddenly slow up it is difficult to get some feel going.

"That was my problem, I left everything short, but Arjun played very well. I can't take anything away from him."

Atwal took full advantage of Goosen's slip-up with a birdie on the next to stretch his lead to three shots, effectively sealing the win that moves him up to fifth on the Order of Merit.

Collated scores and totals in final round of Carlsberg Malaysian Open, the Mines Resort, Kuala Lumpur (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

(x) denotes amateurs

260 Arjun Atwal (Ind) 62 65 67 66 (£113,834)

264 Brad Kennedy (Aus) 68 66 66 64, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 66 64 66 68 (£59,323 each)

266 Dean Robertson 66 70 64 66 (£34,151)

267 Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 63 69 70 65 (£28,960)

268 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 65 68 66 69 (£23,906)

269 Ted Oh (Kor) 64 67 70 68

270 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 68 66 70 66

271 Simon Khan 69 67 67 68, Simon Dyson 65 70 68 68, Gerald Rosales (Phi) 72 68 66 65, Wei-Tze Yeh (Tai) 65 69 72 65, Wen-Chong Liang (Chn) 68 66 66 71

272 Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha) 69 70 69 64, Padraig Harrington 66 66 67 73, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 70 71 64 67

273 Martin Maritz (Rsa) 70 69 69 65, Andrew Marshall 71 66 66 70, Paul McGinley 67 69 70 67, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 67 66 68 72

274 Terry Price (Aus) 70 70 68 66, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 68 68 70 68, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 72 64 71 67, Arjun Singh (Ind) 67 69 70 68, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 62 69 71 72

275 Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 73 65 69 68, Wook-Soon Kang (Kor) 66 72 70 67, Gary Rusnak (USA) 66 69 70 70

276 Mike Cunning (USA) 70 69 70 67, Zaw Moe (Myanmar) 70 69 67 70, Pablo Del Olmo (Mex) 70 67 74 65, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 69 67 69

277 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 68 71 68, Mao-Chang Sung (Taiwan) 69 70 70 68, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 68 69 73 67, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 66 66 67 73, Alastair Forsyth 71 70 68 68, Kim Felton (Aus) 74 67 68 68, David Gleeson (Aus) 73 68 71 65

278 Simon Yates 66 73 68 71, Kyi Hla Han (Myanmar) 70 68 71 69, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 67 71 70 70, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 69 70 68 71, Chris Williams (Rsa) 68 69 70 71, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 68 68 71 71, Anthony Kang (Kor) 67 68 73 70, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 70 69 69

279 Harmeet Kahlon (Ind) 66 75 72 66, Eddie Lee (Nzl) 73 68 69 69

280 Ian Woosnam 70 68 74 68, Charlie Wi (Kor) 72 67 71 70, Andrew Pitts (USA) 68 72 70 70, Rick Gibson (Can) 69 68 70 73, Joon Chung (Kor) 67 69 73 71, Des Terblanche (Rsa) 72 69 71 68, Brian Davis 73 68 70 69

281 Jason Knutzon (USA) 70 68 67 76, Per Nyman (Swe) 73 67 70 71, Rafael Ponce (Ecu) 75 66 72 68

282 Tobias Dier (Ger) 73 66 75 68, P Gunasegaran (Mal) 66 70 73 73, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 65 75 74 68, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 71 70 72, Gerry Norquist (USA) 71 69 71 71, V Arumugam (Mal) 72 69 70 71

283 Lee S James 70 69 69 75, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 67 71 72, Jorge Berendt (Arg) 69 72 70 72, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 72 69 67 75

284 Sushi Ishigaki (Jpn) 71 68 73 72, Simon Wakefield 70 71 75 68

285 S Murthy (Mal) 67 69 77 72, Amandeep Johl (Ind) 68 68 72 77, (x) S Sivachandran (Mal) 71 69 71 74, Ben Mason 68 73 71 73

286 Stephen Lindskog (Swe) 67 73 73 73, Knud Storgaard (Den) 69 72 73 72, Yu Shu Hsieh (Tai) 68 73 72 73

287 Shaaban Hussein (Mal) 68 72 75 72, Mark James 72 69 72 74, Angelo Que (Phi) 72 69 71 75

291 Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 73 67 71 80

296 David Dixon 71 70 79 76

Rtd: Ted Purdy (USA)