English golfer Philip Golding shed tears of joy after a fairytale French Open victory.

In his 201st tour event and after a record 16 visits to the qualifying school, the 40-year-old from Luton birdied the final hole at Le Golf National to pip Swindon's David Howell for the massive £290,791 first prize.

Golding had never previously finished higher than sixth, was a lowly 411th in the world rankings - and seven months ago was on the point of quitting the circuit.

Somehow, despite all the understandable pressure on him after he had moved into the lead with a round to go, he kept his nerve to shoot a closing 69 for a 15 under par total of 273.

But the day's event did not quite end there. For the first time in tour history drug officials from the French Sports Ministry had arrived to conduct some random tests and Golding, Howell and Australian Peter O'Malley, who had finished joint third with Justin Rose, were selected.

The emotion of winning came out minutes after Golding had found the green in two at the par five last and two-putted for the four that edged out Howell.

Echoing Sam Torrance after last September's Ryder Cup he said: "Apart from the birth of my child (two years ago) this is the greatest moment in my life.

"When I just failed to keep my card last season I didn't want to go back to the school, but my wife persuaded me to.

"I can't believe this. It's a dream come true and it means so much - apart from the financial side."

That was pretty important too, though. The winner's cheque was almost as much as Golding had earned in his entire career prior to this season.

His triumph followed that of Sheffield's Malcolm Mackenzie last year. Mackenzie was also 40 and had not won in 508 events and 20 years when he made it in the same manner.

But whereas the Yorkshireman had had 33 top 10 finishes before his victory Golding - a former model - had never hinted that he would break through.

Yet he played as though it was the easiest thing in the world.

Leader by one overnight, both he and Howell turned in 35, but after bogeying the 11th Howell birdied the next three to lead.

Golding, however, made a 25-footer on the 13th, two-putted the 14th for another birdie and was two in front when Howell bogeyed the difficult short 16th.

The same hole tripped up Golding - in fact, he nearly chipped his second shot into the lake - and when Howell two-putted the last they were level.

But the difference was that Golding still had the 18th, easily reachable downwind, to come and he did not falter.

"I was amazed how calm I was," he said later. "I was not afraid to look at the scoreboards and I trusted my swing."

Asked what he would be doing this November he joked: "I might go to the tour school and just watch!"

Rose was six behind at the start of the day, but went to the turn in 32 and then birdied the 10th.

The chance to pull off his first win since the British Masters last June was there and after missing a three-foot birdie putt on the long 14th he holed from 15 at the next and left himself a 20-footer for eagle on the last.

His putt stopped just short, however, and he walked off feeling that his total was probably one too many. In the event he needed the albatross achieved earlier by Ulsterman Graeme McDowell.

At least it did not mean that treading on his ball in the first round cost him victory, but it was not so much that as being disturbed by a spectator clicking a camera as he was hitting his second to the seventh in the third round that upset him. It cost him a double bogey.

"It hit home that it could cost me the tournament," he said. "It narked me at the time. the crowd were 30 yards away, but it was in the middle of my backswing and what can you do?"

Coming through on the last day just as he did for fifth place in the United States Open two weeks ago, however, should boost his confidence in the countdown to the Open at Sandwich on July 17-20.

Davis was the first who was poised to set a new target, but a bogey at the 17th and only a par at the last meant he finished one short of Rose.

So the stage was left to Golding and Howell - and the former triumphed for a win that changes his life.

Collated final totals in the French Open at Le Golf National, Paris

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

273 Philip Golding 66 70 68 69 (£290,791)

274 David Howell 71 65 69 69 (£193,858)

275 Justin Rose 68 69 73 65, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 70 69 66 70 (£98,230 each)

276 Simon Wakefield 70 70 70 66, Andrew Oldcorn 69 70 69 68, Brian Davis 68 72 68 68 (£62,462 each)

277 Bradley Dredge 67 72 70 68, Stephen Gallacher 68 69 69 71, Barry Lane 70 68 67 72, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 70 68 67 72

278 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 68 69 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 70 68 68 72, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 64 71 73

279 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 70 70 71 68, Matthew Blackey 71 71 68 69, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 74 66 71

280 Andrew Marshall 69 74 70 67, Graeme McDowell 70 68 73 69, Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 70 70 70, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 70 68 70 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 69 71 73

281 Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 74 67 72 68, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 69 71 71, Stephen Dodd 72 67 71 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 67 74 69 71, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 73 70 67 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 66 70 73 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 74 69 64 74

282 Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 69 72 73 68, Paul McGinley 71 72 69 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 72 68 71, David Carter 71 69 70 72, Raymond Russell 71 70 69 72, Ian Poulter 75 68 67 72, John Bickerton 69 71 68 74

283 (x) Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 70 71 72 70, Alastair Forsyth 68 73 71 71, Julien Van Hauwe (Fra) 74 68 70 71, Ilya Goroneskoul (Fra) 76 67 69 71, Marc Farry (Fra) 68 73 70 72, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 71 69 72, Gordon Brand Jnr 70 73 67 73, Richard Bland 72 67 70 74, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 71 67 74

284 Gary Murphy 68 74 74 68, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 69 69 73 73, Peter Lawrie 69 73 67 75

285 Jean Louis Guepy (Fra) 71 72 72 70, Olivier Edmond (Fra) 70 72 72 71, Simon Dyson 70 69 69 77

286 Jonathan Lomas 69 74 74 69, Kenneth Ferrie 71 72 73 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 72 71 72, Peter Fowler (Aus) 72 69 70 75, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 72 70 68 76

287 Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 71 69 73 74, Gary Birch 67 74 71 75, Anders Hansen (Den) 70 66 75 76

288 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 74 74 71, Fredrik Widnmark (Swe) 73 69 74 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 70 72 75, Ronan Rafferty 70 72 71 75, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 75 68 70 75, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 72 71 69 76, Greg Turner (Nzl) 73 69 69 77, Miles Tunnicliff 74 69 68 77

289 Gary Orr 71 72 74 72, David Park 72 69 73 75

290 Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 71 68 75 76

291 Ian Garbutt 71 71 72 77, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 72 71 78, (x) Eric Chaudouet (Fra) 66 77 69 79

292 Mark Pilkington 72 71 74 75, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 73 70 74 75, Per Nyman (Swe) 72 69 75 76, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 68 74 80

294 Gary Evans 72 69 71 82