Jean Van de Velde savoured a rare victory on the European Tour by winning the Madeira Island Open.

But the man who famously lost the Open at Carnoustie in 1999 made it hard for himself, shooting a double-bogey six at the last after a poor chip from the back of the green.

Van de Velde finished the day on 68 and a four-round total of 273, 15 under, with Lee Slattery one shot back after a superb 66.

The 39-year-old Frenchman Van de Velde insisted he had remained calm at the final hole.

He said: "My nerves were not playing up. That's the thing with getting older.

"I made the walk up the last an interesting one, that's all.

"I hit my three-wood into the rough and then found the nastiest patch of grass on the course at the back of the green.

"The only problem was if I duffed my shot again but that was not going to happen.

"What happened many years ago (at Carnoustie) was freak circumstances. That kind of thing is not going to happen twice."

Van de Velde's last victory on the European Tour came in the 1993 Roma Masters.

Since then he has struggled for form and fitness with a knee injury hampering his progress.

But the overnight leader set a fierce early pace on Sunday, going out in 31 with six birdies and one bogey and was never caught.

He said: "I played really well and hit great shots one after another.

"When I hit a seven-iron at the 17th and saw it fly, I knew it was going my way.

"I could not have dreamt of making a better start to the year. My life has been blessed in the past few months."

Collated final scores and totals in the European Tour Madeira Island Open Caixa Geral de Depositos, Santo da Serra, Portugal

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72)

(x) denotes amateurs):

273 Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 69 65 71 68

274 Lee Slattery 74 68 66 66

275 Pedro Linhart (Spa) 71 67 69 68

276 Simon Wakefield 72 68 68 68

278 Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 74 69 71 64, Richard Finch 70 69 72 67

279 David Griffiths 72 69 71 67, Tom Whitehouse 73 65 71 70, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 66 68 74 71

280 Damien McGrane 68 69 71 72

281 Warren Abery (Rsa) 69 70 74 68, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 74 69 68 70, Ian Garbutt 72 69 70 70, 281 Garry Houston 68 69 72 72

282 Marcus Higley 72 69 71 70, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 73 69 70

283 Mark Roe 74 68 73 68, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 70 73 69 71, Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 76 67 74 66, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 73 67 73

284 David Lynn 72 68 74 70, Oliver Wilson 71 71 74 68, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 73 68 72 71, Iain Pyman 71 69 74 70, Fredrik Henge (Swe) 68 75 75 66, Gary Orr 74 68 69 73, Magnus Persson (Swe) 73 69 67 75

285 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 74 68 73 70, Mark Foster 69 73 73,70, Bradley Dredge 72 65 77 71, Paul Lawrie 68 69 77 71, Andrew Coltart 75 66 75 69, Steven O'Hara 72 71 76 66, Alistair Forsyth 72 70 69 74, Tiago Cruz (Por) 71 71 69 74

286 Ben Mason 69 73 71 73, Ariel Canete (Arg) 71 69 72 74, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 72 72 73 69, Oliver Whiteley 70 73 68 75, John Bickerton 74 70 75 67

287 Gordon Brand jnr 71 72 72 72, Santiago Luna (Spa) 73 71 72 71, Johan Axgren (Swe) 70 70 71 76, Stephen Gallacher 69 70 71 77

288 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 75 67 74 72, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 71 74 72, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 70 74 72 72, Peter Baker 71 73 74 70, Sam Little 75 69 75 69, 288 Ross Fisher 70 74 76 68

289 Sam Walker 69 69 76 75, Francisco Valera (Spa) 73 68 77 71, Wilhelm Schauman (Swe) 73 68 71 77

290 Gareth Davies 73 71 71 75, Gary Emerson 68 75 76 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 69 78 71, Jose Filipe-Lima (Por) 72 72 75 71, David Patrick 73 71 78 68

291 David Dixon 72 72 75 72, Simon Khan 76 68 76 7

292 Gary Murphy 69 75 74 74, Raymond Russell 76 67 76 73

294 Anders Hansen (Den) 71 73 71 79

295 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 67 81 77, Stuart Little 74 70 74 77

296 Ricardo Santos 72 71 77 76

Disq: Fredrik Widmark (Swe)