The Volvo Masters finally found itself with one champion rather than two when Swede Fredrik Jacobson - or Houdini as he is now known - beat Spain's Carlos Rodiles at the fourth hole of a play-off at Valderrama.

A year after Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer shared the title when darkness halted their sudden-death shoot-out after two holes, it looked as if Rodiles and Jacobson might run out of light as well.

They had time for four holes because the final round was brought forward compared to last year - and they needed all of them to settle a seesaw affair in which Rodiles, two ahead with one hole to play in regulation, missed three putts for victory.

Jacobson, twice chipping and putting and then inches from driving in the lake on the third extra hole, eventually sealed the £406,703 first prize with a par on their fifth playing of the 18th in the day.

It made him the only European player to win three times this season and it denied Rodiles the first success of his career.

One behind with two to play, Rodiles seemed to have one hand on the trophy when he birdied the infamous 17th while Jacobson took a double-bogey seven after his pitch rolled back into the lake.

But on the last the Malaga golfer hit trees with his first and second shots, bogeyed and saw Jacobson force sudden death with a brilliant approach to two feet.

Rodiles had a seven-foot birdie chance on the first extra hole but missed it, and Jacobson saved par from behind a tree off the tee and just over the green in two.

Back they went to the 18th again - and Jacobson, again missing the green, chipped to four feet and made it after Rodiles had failed with his 25-foot attempt.

They were asked to switch to the 10th hole at that point, and Jacobson had an incredible escape when he carved his drive which finished inches from the lake. If he had been left-handed he would have been doomed. But he found the green, parred - and Rodiles this time missed an 18-footer.

It meant they were back on the 18th for the fifth time in the day - it began with them completing their third rounds - and Rodiles had no way out of the trees this time and bogeyed.

They had tied on the 12-under-par total of 276, both returning final rounds of 70 to finish three clear of Brian Davis (66) and six ahead of another Englishman, John Bickerton.

Rodiles and Jacobson had six holes of their third rounds to complete at the start of the day, and the rollercoaster ride they had throughout Saturday's 30 holes continued straightaway.

From two ahead, Rodiles fell one behind after he bogeyed the 13th and 16th - and Jacobson played a brilliant pitch over the lake to six inches on the next. But they were back level on the last thanks to a 25-foot birdie putt after a superb five-iron recovery from behind the trees.

Any doubts about it being just a two-man race were ended when Anders Hansen, lying third, bogeyed the second and then incurred a two-stroke penalty on the fourth for hitting Jacobson's ball by mistake.

The two were about 10 feet apart after two shots to the par five, and it was only after taking up position to hit his third shot that Jacobson noticed the ball at his feet was not his.

Hansen took eight, but Jacobson birdied and added another on the eighth. Rodiles replied with a birdie; Jacobson bogeyed the 10th, and they remained level until the 16th. There were many more twists to come after that, though.

Montgomerie, the only one of the defending champions playing in the event, finished joint 10th on level par after also taking seven on the 17th. But he went out of bounds from a bunker rather than finding the water.

It is the first time since 1992 the seven-time Order of Merit winner has not had a win on the circuit and the first time since 1989 his name does not appear in the top 20 on the final money list.

He could appear in the tour dock, however, after storming off a green in the third round while playing partners Thomas Bjorn and Davis were still to putt. In the week new rules on etiquette were unveiled, Montgomerie threw his ball on to a cart path and was nearly 100 yards away when the pair holed out.

Darren Clarke, runner-up to Ernie Els on the Order of Merit, was one stroke further back - and as he headed away he was looking good for a place in this week's Tour Championship in Houston.

He had to wait for the results of the final round of the Chrysler Championship in Florida, however, before deciding his travel plans.

Jacobson said: "What a great way to finish the year. I really hung in well and hit a great second to the last [the 72nd]."

George O'Grady, managing director of the European Tour, said: "If it had gone dark in the play-offs there were two possibilities - either turning on floodlights on the 10th hole and continuing or returning in the morning."

The title would not have been shared because it was not felt by the Tour that last year set a precedent - Langer and Montgomerie had little riding on the outcome, in contrast to today's situation where a US Open place could have been up for grabs.

Collated final round scores (Gbr and Ire unless stated, par 72):

279 Brian Davis 71 73 69 66 (£158,615)

282 John Bickerton 71 72 70 69 (£122,012)

284 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 77 72 67 68, Greg Owen 73 67 73 71 (£99,003 each)

286 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 75 69 74 68, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 71 73 71

287 Ian Poulter 74 72 73 68

288 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 75 70 73, Colin Montgomerie 71 74 70 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 72 75 68 73

289 Paul Casey 77 70 73 69, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 71 74 73 71, Darren Clarke 77 72 68 72, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 70 78 69 72, Bradley Dredge 72 73 71 73, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 73 72 70 74

290 Padraig Harrington 76 74 70 70, Anders Hansen (Den) 66 73 73 78

291 Peter Fowler (Aus) 72 79 70 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 75 72 73 71, Darrewn Fichardt (Rsa) 73 72 74 72

293 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 75 72 72, Phillip Price 75 71 75 72, David Howell 73 77 72 71, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 73 74 75

294 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 77 70 74 73, Stephen Gallacher 71 75 76 72, Barry Lane 75 76 71 72

295 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 77 74 73, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 77 70 76 72, Nick Faldo 74 71 73 77, Gary Evans 74 75 69 77, Paul McGinley 75 73 76 71, Philip Golding 76 73 76 70

296 Mark McNulty (Zim) 74 75 71 76, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 74 75 73 74, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 73 73 72 78

297 Paul Lawrie 75 75 72 75, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 74 71 73 79

298 Lee Westwood 75 72 76 75, Peter Lawrie 72 77 77 72

300 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 77 75 71 77, Justin Rose 73 74 77 76, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 79 76 75 70

301 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 78 72 73 78, Alastair Forsyth 82 75 71 73, Jamie Donaldson 81 74 74 72

303 Gary Murphy 74 78 76 75

304 Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 73 80 78 73

305 Kenneth Ferrie 74 77 74 80

306 Andrew Coltart 82 82 70 72, David Lynn 82 82 70 72

308 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 75 73 78 82

312 Nick Dougherty 78 78 80 76