Ernie Els heads to Sandwich to prepare for the defence of his Open title with confidence soaring after cruising to his second Scottish Open title and fifth win of the year.

Els carded a final round 69 at Loch Lomond for a 17 under par total of 267, five shots clear of Ryder Cup team-mates Phil Price and Darren Clarke, with the Republic of Ireland's Gary Murphy enjoying his best ever finish two shots further back in fourth.

The world number two collected the winner's cheque for £366,660 and could earn more than £1million in the space of seven days if he can successfully defend his Open title.

The wire-to-wire victory also maintains Els' remarkable form on the European Tour this season, with three victories, two second places and three other top six finishes in his eight strokeplay events so far.

The 33-year-old also won back-to-back tournaments in America at the start of the year and said: "I've won a couple of times back to back this season and played well in the majors so I have more confidence with my game now going into a major than I've had in a long time.

"Stamina is not going to be a problem after the two weeks off I had before this week. I should be just warming up.

"The Open is a totally different week but I have confidence in my game and I've played shots this week that are going to help me next week."

Starting the day with a five-shot lead, Els dropped only his third shot of the week on the second hole, three-putting from long range, and a birdie from playing partner Clarke on the next reduced the gap to three shots.

Clarke could have piled on even more pressure on the fifth after a superb approach to 10 feet while Els found a greenside bunker, but the world number two got up and down for par and Clarke missed his birdie putt.

Els took full advantage of his reprieve on the next hole with his first birdie of the day, and another on the ninth while Clarke's bogey saw the 33-year-old re-establish his five-shot cushion.

Price briefly closed the gap to four shots with a birdie at the 10th, but Els responded again with a birdie of his own on the 11th. That was effectively that and the focus switched to the battle for second place.

Price looked well in control until Clarke birdied the 15th and 16th, and both had putts for outright second on the 18th, Price missing from just four feet and Clarke from 15.

"I just played poorly today, it was another day where I didn't swing the club very well," said Clarke.

"I had a few opportunities at the start to make some birdies to make a dent in his lead but I didn't take them. I didn't swing well enough to mount a real challenge and he was in control most of the day."

Price's missed putt on the 18th cost him more than £50,000, but the Welshman could not be too concerned after winning £333,330 with his victory in the European Open seven days ago.

"I am absolutely smashed," Price said after his closing 69. "Two weeks being in contention has really worn me out and to be honest I almost didn't come this week because I was so tired. To play as well as this I am really pleased with myself.

"I didn't know what to expect this week and I've gone well so let's hope it's the same stuff next week."

Collated scores and totals in the final round of The Barclays Scottish Open, Loch Lomond (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 71)

(x) denotes amateurs:

267 Ernie Els (Rsa) 64 67 67 69 (£366,660)

272 Phillip Price 67 68 68 69, Darren Clarke 69 70 64 69 (£191,080 each)

274 Gary Murphy 70 69 68 67 (£110,000)

275 Gary Evans 71 71 68 65, Peter Lonard (Aus) 70 68 68 69, Ian Poulter 70 68 68 69 (£78,760 each)

276 Mark Roe 72 68 71 65, Iain Pyman 69 71 67 69 (£52,140 each)

277 Paul Casey 69 74 68 66, Charl Schwarzel (Rsa) 75 68 67 67, Bradley Dredge 69 68 70 70, Alastair Forsyth 72 69 66 70

278 Anders Hansen (Den) 72 69 72 65, Kenneth Ferrie 72 72 68 66, David Lynn 70 70 70 68, Lee Westwood 71 72 67 68, David Howell 66 73 70 69, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 72 72 65 69

279 Rolf Muntz (Ned) 72 70 72 65, Paul McGinley 73 71 67 68, Brian Davis 71 70 69 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 70 68 69

280 Eduardo Romero (Arg) 72 73 68 67, Benn Barham 72 70 69 69, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 67 71 70 72, Tim Clark (Rsa) 68 68 71 73, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 67 76 62 75

281 Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 71 71 72 67, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 73 69 72 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 74 71 67 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 69 73 69 70, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 70 67 72

282 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 73 71 71 66, Phil Mickelson (USA) 76 68 70 68, Raymond Russell 70 72 71 69, Scott Henderson 70 71 71 70, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 74 69 69 70, Shaun Webster 72 68 67 75

283 Greg Turner (Nzl) 71 71 75 66, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 74 70 72 67, Andrew Oldcorn 71 71 72 69, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 70 72 72 69, Simon Khan 73 70 70 70, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 69 71 71 72

284 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 73 72 71 68, Paul Eales 68 73 71 72, Julien Clement (Swi) 69 74 69 72, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 69 69 75

285 John Rollins (USA) 70 75 76 64, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 73 71 73 68, Stephen Dodd 72 73 72 68, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 74 70 71, Colin Montgomerie 71 70 72 72, Andrew Coltart 75 68 70 72, Richard Bland 71 72 69 73, Brett Rumford (Aus) 67 72 72 74, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 72 68 74, Terry Price (Aus) 67 68 72 78

286 David Carter 74 70 72 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 72 71 71, Gary Orr 73 72 70 71, Ian Garbutt 70 69 75 72, Roger Chapman 73 70 68 75, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 69 72 68 77

287 Stephen Gallacher 73 70 74 70, Richard Green (Aus) 71 74 72 70, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 70 74 68 75

288 Steve Webster 70 73 73 72, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 68 75 74, Graeme McDowell 71 71 72 74

289 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 71 71 77 70, Tobias Dier (Ger) 71 74 69 75

293 Sandy Lyle 73 72 74 74

294 Julien Van Hauwe (Fra) 69 76 74 75

295 Gordon Brand Jnr 71 72 74 78

296 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 73 77 74

Withdrawn: John Daly (USA)

Disq: Peter Hedblom (Swe)