Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen, playing in the Dubai Desert Classic only because Tiger Woods pulled out, amazingly held the trophy aloft tonight after beating the mighty Ernie Els.

In one of the biggest shocks in European tour history Derksen, without a top 10 finish to his name and a lowly 593rd in the world, played the round of his life to win the £200,000 top prize.

That sum is more than he had earned in his entire tour career - and no wonder the 29-year-old from Nijmegen was in tears even before he knew whether he had won or not.

Derksen's closing five-foot birdie putt for a seven under par 65 gave him a 17 under par total of 271.

At that moment world number two Els, chasing his fifth victory in seven starts this year, was one behind with two to play, knowing he had driven the green at the downwind 359-yard 17th in the third round and that he could easily reach the par five last in two.

The defending champion was still favourite to win. But instead he `only' parred the 17th and then at the 18th - a hole he had bogeyed in rounds two and three - he went over the green, left his chip 25 feet short and two-putted for par.

``It's the biggest shock of my life. Just unbelievable,'' said Derksen, who received a call at home last Monday saying he was in the 150-strong field.

Four months ago he finished 25th on his sixth visit to the tour qualifying school. His biggest previous cheque was #10,384 for 16th place in the English Open last year.

If Woods had not withdrawn last Sunday because of fears about flying to the Middle East Derksen would have been first reserve - as he was twice before this season.

``I flew to Johannesburg and Singapore and didn't play,'' he said. ``It was a long way to go and a lot of money to spend, but I did a lot of practising.''

He did not look at a leaderboard from the moment he holed an outrageous 75-foot eagle putt at the 13th until he had finished his round.

As that eagle went in Els was in the process of double-bogeying the 12th, flying the green and making a mess of another chip. From two ahead the South African was suddenly two behind.

When he then birdied the 13th and chipped in from 25 feet at the short 15th Els looked to be back on course to yet another title. But Derksen had other ideas and becomes only the second Dutchman to win on the circuit after Rolf Muntz at the 2000 Qatar Masters.

``This week I think it all came together and today I didn't make any mistakes,'' he added.

Els commented: ``I couldn't hit two better shots to the 18th, but I didn't hit a very good chip to say the least.

``I was concerned it was going to run away from me. But what are you going to do? One guy comes out of the pack and beats you. He played well, so it is one of those things.''

The only other time Els has lost in stroke play competition this year was at the Singapore Open. He led by one there, but bogeyed the last while China's Zhang Lian-wei birdied it.

Zhang Lian-wei and Robert-Jan Derksen. What a duo to deny Els.

Joint third were 45-year-old Ian Woosnam and the two players with whom Els had shared the overnight lead, Scot Alastair Forsyth and England's David Lynn.

Forsyth had enough birdies to win - six - but also five bogeys, while Lynn could only par the last 10 holes.

Darren Clarke finished with six successive birdies, but was still only joint 11th.

The day belonged to Derksen, who for the next two years at least does not need to worry about being a reserve again. He might care to buy Woods a bottle of champagne or two for pulling out.

Collated final-round scores (Gbr and Irl unless stated, par 72):

271 Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 72 67 65 (£200,000)

272 Ernie Els (Rsa) 66 68 69 69 (£133,330)

274 Ian Woosnam 69 66 70 69, David Lynn 68 66 69 71, Alastair Forsyth 65 69 69 71 (£62,000 each)

275 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 67 67 73 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 69 66 71 69, Kevin Na (S Kor) 68 69 68 70

276 Phillip Price 71 67 68 70, Thongchai Jaidee (Thai) 70 68 67 71

277 Darren Clarke 70 69 72 66, Brian Davis 68 72 70 67

279 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 70 72 69 68, Jamie Donaldson 67 71 72 69, Mark Foster 73 66 68 72

280 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 72 71 66, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 68 73 72 67, David Park 71 69 72 68, Gary Orr 71 69 68 72

281 David Carter 70 73 70 68, Paul Lawrie 70 72 69 70, Bradley Dredge 73 69 69 70, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 69 69 72 71, John Bickerton 69 71 70 71, Nick Dougherty 67 69 73 72, Richard Bland 72 67 70 72, Peter Lawrie 72 69 67 73

282 Tobias Dier (Ger) 69 69 76 68, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 73 67 74 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 72 71 71 68, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 70 68 75 69, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 68 73 70, Steve Webster 71 71 70 70, Charlie Wi 70 72 70 70, Greg Owen 67 69 74 72, Simon Yates 69 72 68 73, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 72 69 68 73

283 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 69 73 70, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 70 72 71 70, Lee Westwood 70 73 69 71, Stephen Gallacher 69 70 71 73, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 70 70 70 73, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 69 71 75

284 Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 74 68 74 68, Miles Tunnicliff 70 72 74 68, Mark Roe 71 71 71 71, Ian Garbutt 73 63 73 75

285 Paul McGinley 72 69 77 67, Paul Broadhurst 71 70 74 70, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 76 67 72 70, Padraig Harrington 73 70 71 71, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 73 69 70 73

286 Mark O'Meara (USA) 68 72 75 71, Richard Green (Aus) 72 70 73 71, Euan Little 71 71 73 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 68 74 73 71, Peter Fowler (Aus) 72 71 71 72, Jonathan Lomas 69 70 74 73, Paul Eales 73 69 71 73

287 Shaun Webster 71 72 72 72, Simon Wakefield 71 70 73 73, Marten Olander (Swe) 70 71 71 75

288 Peter Baker 71 72 76 69, Raul Ballesteros (Spa) 70 72 75 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 74 69 73 72, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 75 68 72 73, Jamie Elson 72 68 74 74, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 72 71 71 74, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 68 72 73 75

289 Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 69 74 76 70

290 Ian Poulter 68 70 78 74, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 72 72 76

291 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 74 78 70, Barry Lane 74 67 78 72, Anders Forsbrand (Swe) 73 70 75 73, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 72 71 72 76, Sven Struver (Ger) 67 69 78 77

293 Klas Eriksson (Swe) 70 71 79 73, Mark McNulty (Zim) 72 70 76 75

297 Warren Bennett 69 74 79 75