Lee Westwood broke down in tears after his BMW International Open victory tonight as he revealed how close he came to quitting the game during three years of misery.

Westwood carded a final-round 66 at Nord-Eichenried for a 19-under total of 269 and three-shot victory over Germany's Alex Cejka to claim the £207,000 first prize.

The 30-year-old from Worksop had not won since the last of his seven victories worldwide in 2000 which saw him end Colin Montgomerie's seven-year reign as European number one.

He had slumped from a high of fourth in the world to 215th at the start of the week, and failed to record a single top-10 finish last season.

But he has finally reaped the reward of seven months of hard work with coach David Leadbetter, who told him at the recent USPGA championship that his swing "looked as good as it ever has".

"I'm fairly emotional," admitted Westwood, who backed himself at 66-1 to win the tournament at the start of the week. "This is a big moment.

"There were times when I thought about putting the clubs away and not ever getting them out again and calling it a day, but that would have been the easy thing to do.

"I battled it out and hopefully this is one of many rewards. I've won a little sooner than I thought I might have but it's just great to win a tournament again. I won 24 times in four years and knew I wouldn't lose the feeling of how to win.

"It's really special. The last three years have obviously been the worst of my career but you find out a lot of things about yourself and people around you, those who have been there and backed you up and those who have disappeared into the background.

"Things were being written in papers and magazines about me never coming back and never winning again and it's hard to keep picking yourself up and putting a positive edge on it when all people are talking about is the negative and bad things.

"I feel like I'm sticking two fingers up to a few people now I've won a tournament."

It was the first tournament Westwood's son Samuel had seen him win - "I think he jumped up and down and hit his head on the table!" Westwood joked - and it was the youngster's arrival which many felt was to blame for Westwood's downward spiral after he took two months off around the birth in 2001.

But Westwood conceded: "Before I took the break I felt my technique had become flawed and I was getting by on adrenalin and the knack of winning, so maybe these three years have been a blessing in disguise."

Westwood praised the role of veteran caddie Pete Coleman, who had finished runner-up in the event five times during his 22-year partnership with Bernhard Langer.

"Pete was a huge part of the win," said Westwood. "I'd never been here before and he had been a lot with Bernhard although he'd never won it, now he has.

"He's one of the best on tour, and certainly one of the oldest, and he's seen it all. He said the right things at the right time and said nothing at the right time as well."

Westwood started the day three shots off the lead and looked to be dropping out of contention when he opened with six pars and then three-putted the seventh for bogey.

A birdie on the ninth kick-started his challenge however and walking off the 10th tee he correctly predicted that an inward nine of 30 would win the title.

Three birdies in succession quickly followed on the 11th, the latter from a matter of inches after a superb approach, and took him level with Cejka on 16 under as overnight leader Robert Karlsson's hopes nosedived with a double-bogey six on the 10th, the 1997 champion three-putting from 10 feet.

Cejka's bogey on the 16th then left Westwood out in front and he took full advantage, firing his second shot to within two feet of the hole for birdie on 16, before supplying the coup de grace by chipping in for another birdie on the next.

Westwood's brother-in-law Andrew Coltart made it a family affair with a share of third place on 15 under, alongside English duo Paul Casey and Gary Evans, Swede Peter Hedblom and France's Raphael Jacquelin.

"It's nice to see Lee playing well again after what he's been through but I'm more concerned about myself," said Coltart, whose sister Laurae married Westwood in 1999.

"I never really took my chances on the par fives, I was only one or two under which is throwing shots away."

Collated scores and totals in final round of BMW International Open, Nord-Eichenried, Munich (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 72, (x) denotes amateur):

269 Lee Westwood 65 68 70 66

272 Alex Cejka (Ger) 69 66 70 67

273 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 66 66 74 67, Andrew Coltart 70 70 65 68, Paul Casey 65 69 70 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 62 69 71 71, Gary Evans 66 68 68 71

274 John Bickerton 67 68 68 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 64 70 68 72, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 65 64 71 74

275 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 67 72 67, Gary Emerson 64 68 73 70, Stephen Gallacher 67 66 72 70, David Howell 64 71 70 70, Brian Davis 68 69 65 73

276 Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 69 69 67

277 Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 71 74 64, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 67 71 70, Andrew Raitt 70 69 68 70, Paul McGinley 69 66 70 72, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 64 70 70 73, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 65 68 73

278 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 67 72 72 67, Kevin Na (Kor) 71 69 71 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 68 67 74 69, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 64 74 70, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 72 68 70, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 75 65 68 70, Stephen Dodd 71 69 67 71

279 Peter Fowler (Aus) 74 66 70 69, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 68 69 71, Markus Brier (Aut) 68 71 69 71, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 73 67 68 71, Jamie Donaldson 74 65 68 72

280 Gary Orr 71 68 70 71, Ian Garbutt 69 67 72 72, Marten Olander (Swe) 69 69 70 72, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 68 68 71 73, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 71 65 71 73, Simon Dyson 69 68 70 73, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 66 71 69 74

281 Simon Hurd 70 69 74 68, Barry Lane 72 65 71 73, Lee James 71 69 68 73, Malcolm Mackenzie 69 66 72 74, Raymond Russell 69 68 70 74

282 Andrew Marshall 72 67 74 69, Roger Chapman 71 68 73 70, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 71 67 71 73, Gordon Brand Jnr 69 70 70 73, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 69 70 70 73, Charlie Wi (Kor) 69 70 69 74

283 Steen Tinning (Den) 67 72 71 73, David Lynn 69 71 70 73

284 Tobias Dier (Ger) 69 68 70 77

285 Brett Rumford (Aus) 70 67 72 76, Greg Owen 69 70 69 77

286 (x) Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 69 76 72, Shaun Webster 68 70 76 72, Johan Rystrom (Swe) 68 70 74 74, Miles Tunnicliff 70 70 69 77

287 Santiago Luna (Spa) 71 68 75 73, Russell Claydon 70 69 73 75, Paul Broadhurst 72 67 73 75

288 David Park 74 66 76 72, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 67 73 75 73, Fredrik Andersson 66 70 75 77

289 Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 69 69 72 79

294 Benn Barham 68 71 76 79

296 Simon Wakefield 71 68 83 74

Withdrawn: Jose Manuel Lara (Spa)