Philippe Lima was left stunned after being propelled into the European elite on Sunday.

He was handed a one-year exemption to the lucrative European tour after winning the St Omer Open in his native France.

Lima, three shots adrift overnight, posted a five-under-par 66 to finish on 279.

That was enough to give him a one-shot advantage over the unfortunate Alessandro Tadini of Italy.

The pair looked to be heading for a play-off but Tadini three-putted the last.

He knocked the ball four feet past the hole and missed the return to give Lima a memorable victory.

David Geall was one shot further back with Iain Pyman, James Hepworth, Simon Dyson and Carl Suneson tied in fourth place.

Lima, 22, kept his nerve when the pressure was on - even though this is his first year on the Challenge Tour.

He reaped the benefits of changing his putting technique following a session with St Omer professional Sylvain Rout on Saturday night.

Lima, who will now be playing for big prize money, said: "It's incredible, I've had two victories in two weeks and never won before then.

"I finished five under like I did in Spain and I am proud and happy - to be honest I am on another planet."

Lima added: "The first three days my putting was not good but I worked with a professional here and I changed my technique.

"I felt very confident and my life is changing. Everything will change."

Lima, who started the tournament with three successive level-par rounds of 71, turned the screw early on.

He had four birdies on the front nine, only to drop a shot at the 13th.

But he soon regained his rhythm and picked up shots at 14 and 16 to take the first prize of £44,052.

Gaell finished in style with a birdie at 18 to finish three under for the tournament.

Pyman, meanwhile, was contemplating withdrawing from the tournament on Sunday morning because of a bad back.

But he took three painkillers and chalked-up eagles at nine and 10.

He could have had two more at seven and 18 where he missed from eight feet and 20 feet.

Pyman said: "I would have been happy with level par but after six or seven holes the painkillers kicked in and I got going."

Collated fourth round scores in the Aa St Omer Open, Aa St Omer GC, France

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

279 Phillipe Lima (Fra) 71 71 71 66 (£44,052)

280 Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 70 74 67 69 (£29,368)

281 David Geall 70 73 67 71 (£16,547)

282 Carl Suneson (Swe) 70 67 73 72, Iain Pyman 71 72 72 67, Simon Dyson 70 70 70 72, James Hepworth 75 67 72 68 (£10,401 each)

284 Massimo Florioli (Ita) 69 72 69 74, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 68 73 69 74, Johan Skold (Swe) 72 72 69 71 (£5,938 each)

285 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 72 72 73 68, Didier De Vooght (Bel) 74 73 66 72, Jamie Little 70 76 69 70, Pasi Purhonen (Fij) 71 71 68 75, Murray Urquhart 70 68 75 72

286 Johan Kok (Rsa) 71 72 74 69, Benn Barham 67 75 71 73, Titch Moore (Rsa) 75 67 71 73, Michael Hoey (NIrl) 72 70 74 70, Kariem Baraka (Ger) 74 72 70 70, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 73 72 73 68, John Mellor 72 70 72 72, Jorge Berendt (Arg) 71 74 73 68, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 71 76 73 66, Tom Whitehouse 71 71 71 73, Simon Wakefield 75 69 71 71, Sven Struver (Ger) 76 71 71 68, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 72 72 74 68

287 Stephen Browne 69 69 75 74, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 76 71 69 71,Knud Storgaard (Den) 74 72 72 69

288 Paul Marantz (Aus) 71 71 75 71, Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 70 74 73 71, Paul Dwyer 76 68 75 69, Magnus P Atlevi (Swe) 74 71 73 70

289 Ian Garbutt 76 71 72 70, Graeme Storm 76 71 74 68, Kyron Sullivan 66 72 75 76, Garry Houston 72 71 71 75, Paul Streeter 71 74 72 72, Olivier David (Fra) 73 71 75 70

290 Simon Hurd 72 73 73 72, Greig Hutcheon 70 72 75 73, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 73 73 71 73, Tim Milford 71 71 73 75, David Drysdale 73 71 72 74, Juan Abbate (Arg) 69 71 78 72, Fernando Roca (Spa) 74 70 77 69

291 Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 73 75 73, Mark Pilkington 72 74 73 72,Gianluca Baruffaldi (Ita) 73 72 77 69, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 73 74 73 71

292 Marc Farry (Fra) 69 72 73 78, Jean Marc De Polo (Fra) 74 73 71 74, Marc Cayeux 69 77 74 72, Alexandre Balicki (Fra) 74 73 74 71, Darren Leng 72 71 74 75, Carlos Quevedo (Spa) 74 68 76 74, Brian Akstrup (Den) 75 67 82 68

293 Marco Soffietti (Ita) 72 75 71 75, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 72 74 75 72, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 70 73 75 75

294 Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 71 76 77 70, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 74 72 73 75, Daniel Vancsik (Blr) 74 73 75 72, Sion Bebb 75 71 71 77, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 69 73 81 71, Alexandre Chopard (Swi) 74 70 74 76

295 Warren Bennett 73 74 76 72, David Patrick 72 75 76 72, Oyvind Rojahn (Nor) 72 68 77 78, Pehr Magnebrant (Swe) 73 73 77 72, Roger Winchester 71 73 77 74

296 Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 71 74 75 76, Jochen Lupprian (Ger) 76 71 75 74

297 Joakim Rask (Swe) 74 73 77 73, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 76 71 77 73

298 Julien Van Hauwe (Fra) 75 72 75 76, Matthew Morris 73 71 78 76, Andreas Ljunggren (Swe) 73 74 74 77, Sebastien Branger (Fra) 77 70 80 71

299 Mark Sanders 73 73 77 76