Colin Montgomerie admitted he felt an enormous sense of relief after storming to his first European Tour title in 16 months in the Caltex Masters in Singapore.

Montgomerie overturned a four-shot overnight deficit with a stunning final round of 65 at Laguna National, claiming his 28th career victory with a 16 under par total and three-stroke victory over American Greg Hanrahan.

The former European number one collected the first prize of £83,598 and will also qualify for the forthcoming Players Championship at Sawgrass by moving back into the top 50 in the world rankings.

The 40-year-old failed to win an event in Europe last year for the first time in more than a decade, his last tour title coming when he controversially shared the Volvo Masters with Bernhard Langer in November 2002.

He began the week bemoaning the 'little mistakes' which have crept into his game since his prime in the 1990s, and it looked like they would prove costly again when he bogeyed the final hole of his first round on Thursday to card a 71.

But he never dropped another shot all week and finished in style with his lowest final round since a 64 when winning at Loch Lomond in 1999.

"This means an awful lot to me, it means confidence. I lost it last year and I have it back now," said Montgomerie. "I know I can do this and I can keep doing this.

"I know I am good enough to perform and it's always nice when you prove that to yourself. I hadn't won on the European Tour for almost a year-and-a-half and it's a long time.

"There is a sense of relief to win as well. Finishing in the top 10 is okay but to win is slightly different and it's nice to go back up the rankings because I was falling rapidly and hopefully now I'll get into all the tournaments I have taken for granted for so long.

"To score 67 and 65 at the weekend - I knew I needed at least 65 today - is more satisfying than winning, believe it or not. To have a number in mind and go out and achieve it is very, very satisfying.

"I was only one under after the first round and lying 37th, so it's nice to get a victory after that."

Montgomerie felt he needed to birdie three of the first four holes on Sunday to put pressure on the leaders, and came close to that with birdies at the first and second.

"I holed a good 25ft putt on the first and hit two woods onto the par five second," added Montgomerie, who will have one night at home in Surrey before heading to Florida on Tuesday.

"I wanted my name on the leaderboard as soon as possible because I know how others feel when I start making birdies like that."

Montgomerie was still three behind Barry Lane when the veteran Englishman picked up a shot on the second, but further birdies on the fifth and seventh cut the deficit to a single stroke, and when Lane bogeyed the ninth Montgomerie was tied for the lead for the first time.

The Scot then moved clear with another birdie on the 13th and with his challengers all falling away, a sixth birdie of the day on the par five 15th effectively sealed victory.

There was still time to deliver the coup de grace with a towering six-iron to within two feet of the hole on the treacherous par three 17th, setting up another birdie on the hardest hole on the course.

"I had a challenge here to finish in the top two or three to get into the Players Championship and after I bogeyed my final hole on Thursday it wasn't looking very good," Montgomerie added.

"But I put three very good rounds together in the last three days with no bogeys and I was very proud of that, more proud of that than anything. Not to drop a shot in three days is very good round a demanding golf course, that was good even for me."

Hanrahan is a journeyman professional with arguably the worst looking swing in the professional game, but has been highly consistent since joining the fledgling Asian Tur in 1995.

The former US Army private, whose swing looks like a cross between US Open champion Jim Furyk's and Eamonn Darcy's, played 98 of the tour's first 100 events and 167 out of a possible 176.

"I'm very, very pleased with finishing second," said Hanrahan who only joined the Army because they were offering a special deal to help repay student loans.

"The only disappointment was that I had 18 birdies this week and just one today. I backed off a bit when I saw that Monty was 16 under. That was a magnificent round for him with the pins tucked away like that. The average guy cannot go for pins like that, it would have cost too much money.

"This gives me a little bit of money in the bank and now maybe I can start to play better golf, more consistent. Now I've got a bit of confidence hopefully I can start doing a bit better.

"I have mental strength and can play a bit, I proved that to the world this week."

Hanrahan began the day tied for the lead with Lane and carded a closing 72 while Lane stumbled over the closing stages to shoot 75 and slip to a tie for fifth in his 496th tour event.

India's Jyoti Randhawa and Australian Nick O'Hern shared third on 12 under par.

Collated scores and totals in final round of the European Tour Caltex Masters, Laguna National, Singapore

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 72)

(x) denotes amateurs

272 Colin Montgomerie 71 69 67 65 (£83,598)

275 Greg Hanrahan (USA) 68 68 67 72 (£55,732)

276 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 72 64 74 66, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 68 70 67 (£28,239 each)

278 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 70 71 70 67, Ter-Chang Wang (Tai) 75 68 66 69, Barry Lane 71 65 67 75 (£17,956 each)

279 Brett Rumford (Aus) 71 69 70 69, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 67 68 70 74

280 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 73 70 69 68

281 Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 69 72 68, Matthew Blackey 70 73 67 71, Marten Olander (Swe) 73 68 69 71, David Gleeson (Aus) 70 71 69 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 68 69 70 74, Thomas Levet (Fra) 67 75 65 74

282 Anthony Kang (USA) 69 73 71 69, Damien McGrane 68 68 75 71, Kyi Hla Han (Mya) 68 69 74 71, Terry Price (Aus) 70 70 69 73, Wook-Soon Kang (Kor) 70 70 69 73, Yong-Eun Yang (Kor) 74 69 66 73

283 Anders Hansen (Den) 74 70 70 69, Tanihara Hideto (Jpn) 71 70 74 68, Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha) 72 70 71 70, Kim Felton (Aus) 73 69 71 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 73 68 71 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 70 70 71, Eddie Lee (Nzl) 64 72 75 72, Peter Hanson (Swe) 68 73 69 73, Danny Chia (Mal) 74 70 72 67, Jonathan Lomas 71 71 65 76

284 Simon Yates 70 73 71 70, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 68 70 75

285 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 73 72 71, Adam Groom (Aus) 72 68 74 71, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 71 72 71, Yuan-Chi Chen (Tai) 68 71 76 70, Scott Barr (Aus) 70 72 71 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 69 70 72 74, Peter Lawrie 68 70 71 76

286 Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 68 73 75 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 73 72 70, Richard Green (Aus) 70 72 75 69

287 Brad Kennedy (Aus) 73 70 70 74, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 74 69 70 74, Jason Knutzon (USA) 70 74 72 71

288 Sung-Man Lee (Kor) 72 69 74 73, Stuart Little 70 73 79 76, Uhno Park (Aus) 72 72 72 72, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 72 71 74 71

289 Jamie Elson 71 73 69 76, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 73 69 74 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 71 72 66 80, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 73 66 69 81, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 75 68 75 71, Chih-Bing Lam (Sin) 74 70 75 70, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 70 73 76 70

290 Andrew Coltart 69 74 73 74, Simon Khan 70 69 78 73, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 73 70 75 72, Marcus Both (Aus) 73 70 75 72

291 Clay Devers (USA) 71 70 72 78, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 69 71 78, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 69 73 70 79

292 Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 69 70 73 80, Charlie Wi (Kor) 72 72 72 76, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 72 70 76 74, Gerry Norquist (USA) 74 69 75 74, Wen-Ko Lin (Tai) 71 73 76 72, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 72 72 77 71

293 Roger Chapman 70 68 75 80

294 Arjun Singh (Ind) 68 75 74 77

295 Jong-Duk Kim (Kor) 68 76 71 80, Tze-Chung Chen (Tai) 74 69 77 75

296 Edward Loar (USA) 70 73 72 81

297 Ivo Giner (Spa) 73 68 75 81

299 Peter Fowler (Aus) 67 77 80 75