Second place, it is said, is the first of the losers, but Nick Dougherty insisted he was proud to have put up such a good defence of his OSIM Singapore Masters title.

Despite admitting to playing badly all week, the Liverpudlian was still in contention for his second European Tour crown going to the green at the 18th.

But his final round of 71 was not enough to prevent Mardan Mamat from delighting the home support with a one-stroke win.

Dougherty, whose Ryder Cup chances received a boost despite not winning, said: "The favourite tag was great and I did myself proud. I had a chance coming up 18. What more could I ask of myself?

"I didn't play nearly as well as I did last year and I still had a chance coming up 18. I am pretty pleased with that.

"I did have an advantage, I was the favourite and if I had played to my potential I would have won. But I didn't and that is golf.

"I have been threatening to play that badly all week and it just went horribly wrong for me on the front nine.

"I have just been a bit tentative on my iron play and it showed. I couldn't get the ball round and three really bad bogeys on the front nine meant it was a long way back from there. I fought back well, but it was not enough in the end."

Mamat had been nothing more than solid after carding an opening day 65 to head the field, a position he held at the end of the three subsequent rounds.

But in the face of pressure from Dougherty and Charlie Wi, of Korea, he maintained his composure, which impressed his vanquished rival.

"Mardan finished off very well," he said, magnanimously. "It is thought to hold off a bunch of us and I think he did himself proud. Mardan did really well today to hang on and win by one in the end. He's a worthy champion."

With his win, Mamat now has a European Tour exemption, allowing him to play events up to the end of the 2008 season.

The 38-year-old father-of-five has confirmed he will play "a few events" in Europe, but his immediate attention lay with hailing the biggest win of his career.

He said: "It's a dream come true for me. After missing the cut in Malaysia and Indonesia, I think the Gods were quite fair to me to let me win.

"Somehow or other, things came my way and I can't express that. It's the biggest achievement in my career.

"I just kept myself relaxed and focused on what I wanted to do. That was the key to my success. To be leading from the first round onwards was tough. Right up to the finish Nick was trying to push me very hard.

"His last five holes he came back with three under, but there's only one winner and that's me. Only God knows what I feel inside."

Malaysian Open champion Wi was left frustrated with how he played en route to a 71 - incidentally, bar Jonathan Lomas, the top six finishers all ended with final rounds of 71 - claiming too many opportunities had gone begging.

"I had my chances. I hit to three feet on 10 and four feet on 11 and you've got to make those to put pressure on Mardan, but he played really solid. I can't take that away from him, he hit it beautifully today.

"When you win you have to make those clutch putts, I was disappointed. I kept over-reading the putts for some reason. I don't know why - that's golf.

Ross Fisher was another player who will be thinking what might have been after his recovery round of 71 left him in third place, tied with Wi.

The Ascot-based man, who is only in his first year on the European Tour, suffered on the front nine, a bogey at the sixth and double bogeys at the second and eighth negated a hat-trick of birdies he recorded in between.

The 25-year-old said: "It was always going to be tough on the last day, but I felt really comfortable with my game.

"I am not going to say that the eighth hole has cost has cost me the tournament as there are loads more holes out there, but I thought I had the right club and it took off and waved at the green as it was going over. It is still my best week on Tour, though."

Collated final round totals in the European Tour OSIM Singapore Masters, at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club, Singapore

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

(x) denotes amateur

276 Mardan Mamat (Sin) 65 70 70 71

277 Nick Dougherty 69 70 67 71

278 Ross Fisher 71 68 68 71, Charlie Wi (Kor) 69 73 65 71

279 Jonathan Lomas 71 74 68 66, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 73 69 66 71

281 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 74 68 71 68, Andrew Butterfield 74 69 66 72

282 Marcus Both (Aus) 68 68 77 69, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 65 76 70 71, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 67 69 74 72, Anders Hansen (Den) 69 74 66 73

283 Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 76 68 72 67, Ahmad Dan Bateman (Can) 70 69 74 70, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 71 70 72 70, Wang Ter-chang (Tai) 72 70 71 70, Lu Wei-chih (Tai) 69 72 71 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 70 69 72 72, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 72 70 69 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 67 71 72 73

284 Keith Horne (Rsa) 72 72 71 69, Stuart Little 71 69 72 72, Simon Yates 72 71 69 72, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 73 71 67 73

285 Liang Weng-Chong (Chn) 73 72 70 70, Chris Rodgers 72 70 71 72, Anthony Kang (USA) 75 70 67 73, Danny Chia (Mal) 75 68 68 74

286 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 74 72 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 74 70 71, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 73 72 67 74, Andrew Marshall 73 70 69 74

287 Gary Rusnak (USA) 72 73 72 70, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 71 70 73 73, Lu Wen-teh (Kor) 70 71 72 74, Matthew Millar (Aus) 73 69 70 75

288 Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha) 67 73 76 72, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 71 72 73, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 72 73 70 73

289 Steven O'Hara 72 73 76 68, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 70 72 77 70, Simon Dyson 73 67 78 71, Lee Sung (Kor) 72 71 75 71, Gary Evans 68 72 77 72, Unho Park (Aus) 67 72 74 76, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 69 73 76

290 Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 74 70 75 71, Edward Loar (USA) 74 68 75 73, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 70 73 73 74, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 73 72 69 76, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 69 74 70 77

291 Brett Rumford (Aus) 73 69 77 72, David Higgins 71 72 76 72, Jason Knutzon (USA) 73 72 74 72, Barry Lane 71 69 78 73, Simon Khan 73 71 74 73, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 69 73 73 76, Michael Hoey 75 65 74 77

292 Jean-Francois Lucquin 74 71 77 70, Simon Wakefield 72 71 76 73, Raymond Russell 70 72 74 76

293 Scott Strange (Aus) 70 74 76 73, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 73 71 76 73, Robert Rock 70 73 76 74

294 Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 71 74 75 74, Amandeep Johl (Ind) 72 73 74 75, Jason Dawes (Aus) 74 71 73 76, Peter Lawrie 72 69 76 76

295 Mike Cunning (USA) 75 70 77 73, Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 77 68 75 75, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 73 72 75 75

296 Christopher Hanell (Swe) 73 72 77 74

297 Miles Tunnicliff 73 72 77 75

298 Bill Fung (Sin) 72 72 75 79

299 Bryan Saltus (USA) 72 73 77 77

300 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 73 80 76

301 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 70 74 76 81

305 Kyi Hla Han (Myn) 72 73 79 81