Australia's Adam Scott has targeted a maiden major title after claiming his fourth European Tour victory in the Scandic Carlsberg Scandinavian Masters.

Scott carded a final-round 69 for an 11-under-par 277 in Malmo, two shots clear of England's Nick Dougherty.

Dougherty birdied the last to avoid a four-way tie for second, the 18-foot putt worth £60,000 to the 21-year-old, with his Walker Cup team-mate Luke Donald, Scotland's Andrew Coltart and Swede Robert Karlsson sharing third on eight under.

Scott collected the first prize of £225,000 and also made virtually sure of his place in the Presidents' Cup team - the Ryder Cup-style contest between America and the Rest of the World minus Europe, which takes place in South Africa in November.

He had missed the cut in his previous three events since finishing eighth in the defence of his Scottish PGA Championship, but finally found a solution to the putting problems which had dogged him for two months.

And the 23-year-old goes into the final major of the year, the USPGA Championship at Oak Hill, seeking to do justice to his talents on the biggest stage.

"I feel I'm free to go there and just play," said Scott, who missed the cut at the Open last month after a first-round 82 and whose best finish in a major is a tie for ninth in the US Masters last year.

"I don't have any pressure on me and this takes a bit of weight off my shoulders. I can go there with nothing holding me back. I played the US Amateur there in 1998 and like the course, even though I lost in the first round.

"Look at what happened at the Open. Ben Curtis hung in there and got a score in the clubhouse that proved good enough. It's just important for me to keep the positive vibes going with the putter."

Scott did not have a single three-putt all week despite the greens not being of the highest quality, and admitted: "That made a huge difference.

"I feel if I don't three-putt this is where I should be at the end of the week and I'm very happy. It's been a year since I last won."

Scott's last two victories had come by winning margins of six and 10 shots, but he could not be certain of victory on Sunday until bouncing back from a bogey on the 14th with consecutive birdies.

He began the day tied with Maarten Lafeber on eight under but the pair had already been caught by the earlier starters before they teed off.

Scott went back in front with a birdie from 12 feet on the second, but the first of several pulled shots on the fourth cost him a bogey four.

Dougherty then took over the lead with his third birdie of the day on the sixth, before Scott got back on level terms by two-putting the par-five fifth to get back to nine under.

From then on the Australian was never headed, crucially making birdies on the 11th and 12th to stretch his lead to three for the first time.

"The birdie on 11 was key because it had been six holes since my last birdie and that made me a little more comfortable," admitted Scott.

"I was never running away with it unlike the other wins and I had to work all day for it."

Dougherty was delighted to claim second place outright courtesy of his closing birdie and final-round 69, the £150,000 prize securing his card for next season and allowing him to finally follow doctor's orders and get some rest as he battles glandular fever.

"I've shot one under on the weekend on a course that's pretty difficult with a really bad third round," said Dougherty, who had been three ahead at halfway but found himself chasing home Scott for the second time having finished a distant runner-up in Qatar last year.

"To come out today and shoot three under is big, especially with the position I was in with my tour card. It would have been quite easy just to be a couple of shots worse and I wouldn't have done it.

"All in all it's a great week for me. It was a big putt on the last. It gives me heart after all those I missed to hole the one that really mattered. I knew how much that was worth. To go ahead and do it means a lot to me.

"But I need to work on my golf game. As chuffed as I am to do what I've done I kind of blew the tournament away yesterday. You've got to think Adam Scott with a three-shot lead would have sealed the deal but I didn't, I let all the boys back in and it cost me today."

Playing partner and Walker Cup colleague Donald also birdied the last after a superb approach to within inches of the hole, and the 25-year-old returns to his home in Chicago in good spirits ahead of the USPGA.

"Hopefully I'll become a little more well known over here after this and prove to the European Tour and the public that I'm not a bad player," said Donald, who enjoyed a successful amateur and collegiate career and has already won on the US Tour.

Collated scores and totals in final round of Scandic Carlsberg Scandinavian Masters, Barseback, Malmo (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 72, (x) denotes amateur):

277 Adam Scott (Aus) 70 71 67 69 (£225,071)

279 Nick Dougherty 67 69 74 69 (£150,050)

280 Andrew Coltart 67 76 69 68, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 69 71 69, Luke Donald 71 68 71 70 (£69,773 each)

281 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 73 70 71 67, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 69 75 66 71 (£43,889)

282 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 71 70 72 69, Jamie Spence 74 70 69 69, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 70 70 71 71

283 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 71 69 75

284 Adam Mednick (Swe) 73 69 71 71, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 70 72 71 71, Philip Archer 71 70 71 72, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 71 71 69 73

285 Jamie Donaldson 76 69 70 70, Mark Foster 74 67 73 71, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 69 72 73 71, Sven Struver (Ger) 72 71 70 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 72 69 72, Mark Roe 71 70 71 73, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 70 70 74, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 73 71 67 74

286 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 73 72 73 68, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 74 68 75 69, Gordon Brand Jnr 73 71 73 69, Ben Mason 72 72 73 69, Barry Lane 71 75 71 69, Damien McGrane 73 73 69 71, Jean Louis Guepy (Fra) 75 71 69 71, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 70 71 72 73, Raymond Russell 72 70 71 73, Gary Orr 71 71 69 75

287 Simon Wakefield 70 71 74 72, Mark James 69 70 72 76, Steve Webster 70 72 68 77

288 Paul Broadhurst 71 74 74 69, David Gilford 67 74 75 72, Kevin Na (Kor) 68 74 74 72, Tobias Dier (Ger) 72 71 73 72, Marten Olander (Swe) 72 72 72 72

289 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 73 73 73 70, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 72 75 72 70, Andrew Raitt 74 72 72 71, Terry Price (Aus) 71 73 73 72, Richard Bland 71 75 69 74

290 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 73 72 76 69, Jonathan Lomas 72 73 76 69, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 73 74 74 69, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 68 74 78 70, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 71 75 72, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 72 72 70 76

291 Paul McGinley 75 72 74 70, Graeme McDowell 73 72 75 71, Brian Davis 71 73 75 72, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 73 73 74

292 Bradley Dredge 75 71 76 70, Andrew Marshall 72 74 74 72, Greg Turner (Nzl) 69 74 76 73, Ian Garbutt 72 71 73 76

293 Phil Golding 75 72 75 71, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 75 72 73 73, Johan Rystrom (Swe) 77 70 72 74, Ronan Rafferty 73 72 73 75, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 72 74 72 75

294 Gary Emerson 78 69 76 71, Peter Baker 73 73 76 72, Marc Farry (Fra) 74 71 76 73, Julien Clement (Swi) 75 71 75 73

295 Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 75 76 74, Greg Owen 71 73 74 77, Simon Hurd 69 73 73 80

296 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 73 74 78 71, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 76 71 74 75

297 Zane Scotland 73 73 77 74, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 73 68 76 80

298 Andrew Oldcorn 73 74 76 75

299 Roger Chapman 74 73 76 76

300 Warren Bennett 74 73 76 77

312 Mark Pilkington 70 77 85 80