Colin Montgomerie was happy to avoid a play-off in securing the UBS Hong Kong Open - but commiserated with luckless runner-up James Kingston.

Montgomerie benefited from a dramatic late collapse by the South African, who had been leading the event for much of the final round, to win by one stroke on nine under par.

The Scot had carded a level-par final round of 70 and looked on as Kingston suffered a double-bogey on the 18th, slicing his tee shot into the trees and then missing a 10-foot putt, which would have forced a play-off.

"My play-off record is terrible so I was rather glad we didn't have one," smiled the European number one.

"I think I've won one out of nine in my career, against Ernie Els at Sun City. I've lost my other eight so I wasn't hoping for a play-off. James was very much favourite in the play-off, I can assure you."

Kingston led by two shots after birdies at the third and 15th but gave the chasing pack hope by three-putting the 16th.

Montgomerie looked to have blown his chance by missing birdie putts on 17 and 18 but, in a painful re-run of last year's event, Kingston again collapsed on the final hole to hand Montgomerie the title.

"Everyone's heart goes out to James," the 42-year-old Scot added.

"That should have been a play-off at worst to be honest and then we would have had more drama coming down that last hole.

"He should be making the winner's speech and not me. He played better golf than me for 71 holes this week but sometimes golf is cruel game.

"We all feel for him, every golfer who plays the game feels for someone who doubles the last to lose.

"It has happened before and unfortunately it will happen again but on this occasion I am glad I managed to take the spoils after that."

A crestfallen Kingston, who burst into tears on the green at the 18th, could only rue another missed opportunity, which he put down to nerves.

"I just messed up again for the second straight year," said the 40-year-old, who was tied with eventual winner Miguel Angel Jimenez with one hole to play 12 months ago, but hooked his tee shot into the trees to bogey.

"It's obviously disappointing with the way I finished but that's golf.

"Obviously I was aware of the situation. I was just so nervous. Last year I pulled it left and this year I wasn't going to do the same thing. I hit it right and just made double from there."

Kingston ended up in joint-second place alongside Korea's KJ Choi, Taiwan's Keng-chi Lin, Thailand's Thammanoon Srirot and American Edward Loar.

Overnight leader Scotland's Simon Yates, double bogeyed the par-four first to set the tone for a five-over round which included just one birdie and a triple bogey on the 14th, ruining his hopes of winning.

But Montgomerie, who received his OBE last week, suggested the tough playing conditions, allied to a gruelling schedule, prevented anyone from playing outstanding golf, including himself.

"This was the third tournament of the 2006 European Tour season but it's the end of the calendar year.

"We're all quite tired, physically and mentally and I think that shows in the scoring today.

"No-one made that big move that was anticipated to win this event. There must be 20 guys who are going home tonight thinking 'I should have won that tournament'.

"I was the guy that didn't make the mistakes coming in. I played the last five holes one under, and that's not great but it was good enough.

"I was out in one over and I managed to come back in one under for level and I said 14-under was my target. I never thought nine-under would win."

Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour UBS Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling, Hong Kong, (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 70, (x) denotes amateur):

271 Colin Montgomerie 69 66 66 70 (£116,584)

272 Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 71 67 66 68, Edward Loar (USA) 68 64 71 69, KJ Choi (Kor) 67 72 64 69, James Kingston (Rsa) 68 69 64 71, Keng-chi Lin (Tai) 68 69 66 69 (£42,125 each)

273 Wook-soon Kang (Kor) 64 70 68 71, Damien McGrane 68 71 63 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 68 68 67 70 (£18,047 each)

274 Simon Yates 69 69 61 75

275 Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 69 69 67 70, Rick Gibson (Can) 65 66 71 73, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 65 68 68 74

276 Richard Bland 70 68 67 71, Andrew Butterfield 69 65 69 73, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 72 68 63 73, Ted Oh (Kor) 72 67 67 70

277 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 67 70 69 71, Scott Barr (Aus) 67 72 67 71, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 66 69 70 72, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 69 66 73

278 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 68 72 68, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 72 69 66 71, Sam Little 69 72 65 72

279 Simon Dyson 71 67 71 70, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 68 68 68 75, Oliver Wilson 75 64 64 76, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 68 72 67 72, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 71 68 67 73

280 Brad Kennedy (Aus) 70 69 70 71, Anders Hansen (Den) 73 67 69 71, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 70 68 71, Gary Murphy 68 73 67 72, Adam Le Vesconte (Aus) 68 70 69 73, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 72 67 68 73, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 69 70 68 73, Marcus Both (Aus) 67 68 71 74

281 Prayad Markasaeng (Tha) 68 71 72 70, Angelo Que (Phi) 74 65 70 72, Jean van de Velde (Fra) 70 70 69 72, Pablo Del Olmo (Mex) 68 70 70 73, Francois Delmontagne (Fra) 66 69 72 74, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 67 71 74, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 69 68 75, Ter-chang Wang (Tai) 72 68 66 75, Miles Tunnicliff 68 70 67 76, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 71 68 67 73

282 Philip Golding 70 70 65 77

283 Adam Groom (Aus) 70 70 70 73, Kenneth Ferrie 68 72 69 74, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 65 71 72 75, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 69 68 69 77

284 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 72 68 70 74, Gary Emerson 70 69 72 73, Scott Strange (Aus) 71 64 74 75, Nick Dougherty 71 70 69 74

286 Ian Garbutt 67 74 73 72, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 71 69 72 74, Gary Rusnak (USA) 71 69 72 74, Peter Lawrie 72 69 71 74, David Park 72 68 71 75, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 69 69 71 77

287 Tse-peng Chang (Tai) 67 73 72 75, Amandeep Johl (Ind) 72 69 71 75, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 68 73 77

289 Joong-kyung Mo (Kor) 70 68 75 76, Sung-man Lee (Kor) 73 68 71 77, Barry Lane 68 70 73 78, Simon Wakefield 73 68 70 78, Richard McEvoy 66 73 69 81