Wales' Bradley Dredge cruised to a commanding victory in the Madeira Island Open to claim his first European Tour title.

Dredge carded a final-round 71 for a 16-under total of 272 and eight-shot win over Swede Fredrik Andersson, English duo Brian Davis and Andrew Marshall, to take the £67,790 first prize at Santo da Serra.

Londoner Sam Little took fifth place a shot further back with Holland's Robert-Jan another stroke adrift in sixth on his first appearance since his shock victory in the Dubai Desert Classic.

The foundations for Dredge's overdue maiden win were firmly laid by his brilliant third-round 60, when he came within inches of recording the first ever 59 on the European Tour.

He started the final day with an eight-shot lead and although he bogeyed the first, a birdie at the third settled any nerves and victory was never in doubt.

Dredge, 72nd in the world rankings, was the only member of the top 100 competing in Madeira and found himself in the unusual position of outright favourite at the start of the week.

The 29-year-old has twice finished runner-up on the European Tour and also recorded nine other top-10 places last season as he finished 18th on the Order of Merit.

But the former Walker Cup player was desperate to end his search for a first tour victory after coming close to claiming the prestigious Volvo Masters title - eventually shared by Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer - at the end of last year.

"It feels wonderful," said Dredge, who could comfortably afford the luxury of a bogey on the last. "I've waited a long time for this, so I'm going to savour it for a few weeks at home.

"It was frustrating because I really wanted to win last year and I had a few chances, but I tried not to put too much pressure on myself.

"I never imagined I would have such a short putt to win a tournament, or that I would have about eight putts for it from four inches.

"Going out and shooting 60 in the third round made things so much easier. I made a few errors today, but I knew my game was in good shape.

"It was difficult in a way today because my normal game is quite attacking, but sometimes I had to be aware of tough pin positions and play for the centre of the green instead.

"I thought someone could have shot 64 today, but I looked at the leaderboard on the 12th hole and still had an eight-shot lead which made my life a lot easier."

Dredge will now anxiously await the publication of the updated world ranking list on Monday to see if his victory is enough to lift him from 72nd into the top 50.

That would earn him entry into the US Masters if he could remain there until the week before the first major of the year from April 10-13.

"That was one of my goals at the start of the year, but I didn't play as well as I wanted so it took a back seat," he added. "I'm not playing between now and the Masters, so I'll just have to hope it's enough."

The main interest on the final day centred on the battle for second place and only a bogey on the 17th from Little prevented it from being a four-way tie.

Marshall conjured up the best finish with birdies at the last two holes, his 7-iron on the par-three 17th hitting the pin and stopping six inches away from a hole-in-one.

"I didn't play great, but a good finish like that is always nice," said the 29-year-old from Norfolk, who had to return to the qualifying school in November to retain his card.

"I was trying not to watch what everyone else was doing as it is a big thing for me in only my second full year out on tour. It's great to finish birdie-birdie and get my biggest cheque so far."

Collated final-round scores (Gbr&Irl unless stated, Par 72):

(x) denotes amateurs

272 Bradley Dredge 69 72 60 71 (£67,789pds)

280 Brian Davis 74 70 68 68, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 73 68 70 69, Andrew Marshall 71 70 69 70 (£30,329 each)

281 Sam Little 76 68 68 69 (£17,245)

282 Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 79 68 68 (£14,235)

283 Santiago Luna (Spa) 71 72 70 70

284 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 73 70 71 70, Andrew Coltart 74 69 70 71, Julien Clement (Swi) 68 76 69 71

285 Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 74 71 70, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 66 74 74 71, Van Phillips 68 74 67 76

286 Stuart Little 77 71 72 66, Simon Hurd 71 75 72 68, Shaun Webster 71 75 68 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 69 71 74, Paul Broadhurst 70 72 70 74

287 Damien McGrane 72 76 69 70

288 Christopher Hanell (Swe) 72 73 72 71, Andrew Sherborne 68 77 71 72, Fredrik Orest (Swe) 71 75 70 72, Matthew Cort 71 72 72 73, Marcello Santi (Ita) 69 73 72 74

289 Robert Coles 79 71 71 68, Diego Borrego (Spa) 75 73 71 70, Ivo Giner (Spa) 74 75 67 73

290 Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 78 72 69, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 77 72 68, Lucas Parsons (Aus) 75 76 68 71

291 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 73 77 71 70, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 73 76 72 70, Erol Simsek (Ger) 73 77 70 71, Gary Murphy 72 74 73 72, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 72 77 70 72, Ben Mason 73 72 72 74, Peter Baker 74 72 71 74

292 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 72 72 76 72, Philip Golding 73 74 75 70, Mark Sanders 75 76 74 67

293 Renaud Guillard (Fra) 71 80 70 72, Johan Rystrom (Swe) 76 76 70 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72 74 72 75, Fernando Roca (Spa) 73 73 71 76, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 71 76 70 76

294 Markus Brier (Aut) 71 75 74 74, Stuart Cage 73 76 71 74, David Drysdale 73 77 69 75, Knud Storgaard (Den) 73 75 74 72, Daniel Silva (Por) 76 76 72 70, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 73 78 74 69

295 James Hepworth 73 77 70 75, Philip Walton 74 74 73 74, Daren Lee 74 75 73 73, Neil Cheetham 74 75 73 73, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 77 69 78, Chris Gane 73 79 72 71

296 Alberto Binaghi (Ita) 70 77 80 69

297 Raimo Sjoberg (Swe) 71 77 73 76, Julien Van Hauwe (Fra) 68 78 73 78, Gary Emerson 73 72 73 79, Pehr Magnebrant (Swe) 73 74 75 75, Peter Mitchell 72 79 72 74, Ilya Goroneskoul (Fra) 72 80 72 73, Stephen Browne 73 77 76 71, Marco Bernardini (Ita) 73 74 79 71

298 Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 74 74 73 77, Seve Ballesteros (Spa) 76 75 71 76, Gordon Brand Jnr 79 73 74 72, Richard McEvoy 76 76 75 71

299 Alvaro Salto (Spa) 72 80 72 75, Jan-Are Larsen (Nor) 73 79 73 74, David Dixon 73 77 75 74, Simon Wakefield 76 74 76 73

301 Raul Ballesteros (Spa) 78 73 72 78

302 Edward Rush 71 78 75 78

304 Carl Suneson (Spa) 79 72 76 77