Scotland's Stephen Gallacher fought off the challenge of Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell in a play-off to register his maiden European Tour win at the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews on Sunday.

The 29-year-old from Bathgate achieved a glorious success in his own country to pick up a cheque for £450,000 and move to 12th in the Volvo Order of Merit.

Gallacher, who is rated 157th in the world, is the nephew of former Ryder Cup captain Bernard and he kept his nerve to triumph at the first play-off hole.

After chipping to three feet he sunk the birdie putt to be crowned champion after McDowell had pitched into the burn at the front of the green.

"This is definitely like a dream come true for me," enthused an emotional Gallacher.

"That was probably the best shot I hit all week to put it near the hole."

He added: "This is what you are in the game for and now I am in the top 15 in the Order of Merit I want to stay there."

The little-known 29-year-old produced a great final round score of 67 on St Andrews but he dropped a shot at the 17th to fall back to 19-under-par.

The Northern Irishman also bogeyed the same hole but he kept his nerve to hole an eight-foot putt on the 18th to force a nail-biting play-off.

Gallacher was kept waiting half-an-hour to tee off on the 17th and his misery was compounded when he found trouble and had to settle for his first bogey in the round.

Overnight leader Luke Donald looked set to join the Brits in a three-way play-off but he also dropped a shot at the hazardous 17th and he missed a birdie putt at the last to finish a shot off the lead.

He said: "Overall it has been a good week," said the Scandinavian Masters and Omega European Masters winner. "I would have loved to have won, you don't like to lose a lead."

He finished joint-second with Ryder Cup team-mate Ian Poulter, who revealed he had been struggling with a wrist injury.

The Englishman said: "My wrist has been bad today and as bad as it's been. It has been bad for three days now.

"I am going to have a full week's rest now and try and sort it out as it has been sore.

"I hit the third shot on Friday morning on the practice ground, it was cold and I felt something go.

"The guys said I might have pulled a couple of tendons in the wrist. I have had to have it strapped, iced and taken painkillers all week.

"It might be a blessing in disguise as I haven't been able to hit it too hard, which is one of my faults.

"I don't think it is anything to worry about - it should be fine in a few days."

Defending champion Lee Westwood finished on 16-under with David Howell but the Englishman was satisfied with his season despite failing to win a tournament.

Another of Europe's triumphant team at Oakland Hills said: "I am not disappointed not to have won anything.

"I have had a lot of consistency and have played better this year than last year. Last year when I had chances I just took them.

"I am not disappointed because I have had six or seven top 10 finishes and have done well this week so I am positive about the future.

"My swing is improving all the time. There are no new tricks - I am just working on making it better and there's no radical changes."

Colin Montgomerie finished down the field on 10-under and one shot behind world number one Vijay Singh, who keeps his ranking position despite Ernie Els' good performance.

The world number two finished four shots ahead of the Fijian and level with Fred Couples with a two-under-par score of 70 on the old course.

The American and partner Craig Heatley won the team event with a 37-under-par total with Gallacher and Sir Martyn Arbib a shot two shots behind.

World number two Ernie Els finished two shots clear of Emanuele Canonica and Gianluca Vialli and Steven O'Hara and Robert Hissom. Welshman Ian Woosnam finished on 11-under.

Collated final-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

269 Stephen Gallacher (Won play-off at first extra hole) 70 66 66 67, Graeme McDowell 62 72 67 68

270 Ian Poulter 69 67 65 69, Luke Donald 66 65 68 71

272 Lee Westwood 71 65 69 67, David Howell 65 65 71 71

274 Fred Couples (USA) 70 66 69 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 68 68 70

275 Marcel Siem (Ger) 73 66 67 69, Richard Green (Aus) 70 66 73 66, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 69 67 68

276 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 69 66 69 72, John Bickerton 71 67 66 72, Brian Davis 72 67 70 67, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 67 74 67, Rolf Muntz (Ned) 73 63 69 71, Mark Foster 72 66 67 71

277 Phillip Price 70 73 68 66, Peter Senior (Aus) 70 68 67 72, Miles Tunnicliff 73 68 69 67, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 70 69 70, Ian Woosnam 73 66 66 72

278 Eduardo Romero (Arg) 70 71 71 66, James Kingston (Rsa) 65 72 69 72, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 66 68 75 69, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 65 72 69 72, Colin Montgomerie 68 67 72 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 72 70 70 66

279 Nathan Green (Aus) 70 65 73 71, Simon Dyson 69 68 73 69, Dean Robertson 70 70 70 69, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 69 71 68, Brett Rumford (Aus) 71 67 68 73

280 Bradley Dredge 70 70 71 69, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 68 74 68 70, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 70 72 66 72, Darren Clarke 72 69 66 73, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 69 69 68, Peter Lonard (Aus) 65 71 71 73, Anthony Wall 72 70 68 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 68 71 72, Greg Owen 69 68 72 71, David Lynn 73 69 68 70

281 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 67 67 77, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 70 69 73, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 70 73 69 69, Stephen Dodd 69 69 74 69, Jamie Donaldson 69 65 73 74, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 67 65 79 70, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 69 69 71 72, Gordon Brand Jnr 67 72 71 71, Paul Casey 70 70 69 72, Simon Khan 71 70 68 72

282 Rich Beem (USA) 71 65 70 76, Titch Moore (Rsa) 72 69 71 70, Raymond Russell 72 72 67 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 67 71 74 70, David Park 73 67 71 71, Scott Drummond 73 68 69 72, Alastair Forsyth 70 69 73 70, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 71 71 70 70, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 74 68 70 70

283 Paul McGinley 72 67 73 71, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 72 72 71, Jason Dawes (Aus) 71 66 70 76, Thomas Levet (Fra) 68 72 71 72, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 69 68 72 74

284 Gary Orr 71 68 73 72

285 Simon Yates 70 70 71 74, Arjun Singh (Ind) 71 71 70 73

287 Peter O'Malley (Aus) 69 72 71 75

288 Brad Kennedy (Aus) 69 74 69 76

290 Sven Struver (Ger) 70 71 71 78

Leading Team: Fred Couples and Craig Heatley -37