Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano admitted claiming his second European Tour title had been a greater test after he defeated Sweden's Henrik Stenson in a dramatic first-hole playoff to snatch victory at the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai.

The 25-year-old forced a title playoff when he struck one of the best shots of the tournament with a 30-foot birdie putt on the 16th just when Stenson found trouble on the same hole at the Tomson Golf Club.

Castano, who finished second in last week's Volvo China Open, continued his impressive form to snare his second title after victory at last year's KLM Open in Holland.

The Spaniard finished ahead of Portugal's Jose-Filipe Lima and Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, who both finished joint third on six under for the tournament.

A shot further back in fifth place were English duo Paul Casey and Simon Dyson who finished five-under.

"It was really more difficult to win my second title," said Castano. "That shot on the 16th was not my best shot but it was great under the circumstances and when I was under pressure from Henrik [Stenson] in such an important tournament.

"I really enjoyed playing with Henrik. It's been a great day and one I won't forget.

"Winning this tournament is a great thing but when you see the leaderboard and you see all the players in the top 10 and all the players I have beaten today, it's just unbelievable. It's a dream come true.

"When I teed off this morning, I tried to have fun. That's what I did. I played my difficult Spanish golf and it worked. You never know. Sometimes you play good golf and you finish second. It was my turn and I really enjoyed it."

Stenson would be kicking himself for practically handing the title to the young Spaniard after a treble bogey on the ninth derailed any real hope of snatching the silverware.

"It's always difficult to lose. I was leading by a shot during the past couple of days but I knew all the guys were going to challenge me. I knew I blew it on the ninth. It's a bit unfortunate but that's how it goes," said Stenson.

By winning his second title, Castano also became the youngest winner of the Asian Open since its inception in 2001, easily beating Padraig Harrington's record of 31 years and 85 days.

On a tense last day marked by low scores, the lead changed hands at least four times as the top European players hit form on the 72-par 7,300-yard course.

Castano drove his tee shot into the tree when the pair returned to the 18th tee, but the Spaniard recovered with a superb chip shot on his third shot that landed just inches away from the cup.

Stenson also drove into the woods off the tee and could only manage to par the 18th hole to hand Castano victory and US dollars 30,000 prize money.

Casey had snatched a share of the lead after six holes with birdies in the second and fifth but Stenson stormed right back, reclaiming the outright lead after the sixth to go seven under.

Montgomerie got off to a poor start when he bogeyed the first hole, but he made amends to his earlier hiccup by producing one of his best finishes in many weeks

He collected birdies in the second, seventh, ninth, 10th, 12th, sinking a six-foot putt on the last hole to settle for four-under-par 68.

Dyson took joint leadership after the 12th hole as a group moved ominously closer to the top of the leaderboard, but the Englishman failed to sustain his challenge and gradually faded to finish the day on four-under-par 68 to finish five under.

The closeness between the top players was evident midway through the round when there was a six-way tie for first place with Stenson and Dyson sharing the limelight with Montgomerie, Casey, Australia's Peter O'Malley and New Zealand's Mahal Pearce.

Stenson took a three-shot lead after the eighth hole and was at the top of the leaderboard before disaster struck on the par-five ninth.

Hitting a wayward drive into the woods, Stenson struck a tree before his shot ricocheted back towards him by about 60 metres.

His approach shot then hit the water and he took a penalty before he three-putted for a frustrating eight. It was something Stenson did not need as he blew a three-shot lead just when he looked as if he was steaming towards the title.

But Stenson managed to regain the lead after he birdied the difficult 356-yard par 14. But he found trouble again on the 16th when he hit the trees, dropping another shot moments after Castano hit one of the shots of the tournament.

Castano took a one-shot lead going into the final hole and sunk a six-foot putt before Stenson came back with a much-needed birdie to force a play-off.

Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour, BMW Asian Open, Tomson Shanghai Pudong GC, China

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

281 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 71 71 69 70 (Fernandez-Castano wins at 1st extra hole), Henrik Stenson (Swe) 67 72 71 71

282 Colin Montgomerie 69 74 71 68, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 70 73 68

283 Mahal Pearce (Nzl) 72 72 68 71, Paul Casey 72 71 69 71, Simon Dyson 72 71 72 68

285 David Bransdon (Aus) 72 74 73 66, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 73 73 74 65, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 73 70 69 73, Paul Lawrie 70 70 73 72

286 Barry Lane 74 71 72 69

287 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 72 73 69, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 73 70 73 71, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 73 73 72 69, Charlie Wi (Kor) 69 73 74 71, Peter Lawrie 69 72 75 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa 75 71 71 70, Graeme Storm 74 69 72 72, Brett Rumford (Aus) 75 70 75 67

288 Frankie Minoza (Phi) 69 72 76 71, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 70 73 76 69, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 68 78 71 71, Simon Wakefield 73 70 73 72, Andrew Marshall 71 73 73 71

289 Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 70 75 72 72, Alex Cejka (Ger) 71 74 74 70, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 73 71 75 70, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 74 76 68, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 72 75 72 70, Richard Bland 71 72 74 72, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 69 78 71 71, Nick Dougherty 73 73 74 69

290 Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 71 71 74 74, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 76 73 72, Markus Brier (Aut) 72 71 70 77, David Higgins 73 70 73 74, Miles Tunnicliff 72 70 76 72, Chris Rodgers 72 72 73 73, Ted Oh (Kor) 70 77 73 70

291 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 74 69 72 76, Scott Drummond 70 75 75 71, Garry Houston 71 71 76 73, Sven Struver (Ger) 77 69 73 72, Danny Chia (Mal) 71 70 76 74, Damien McGrane 72 74 72 73

292 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 75 71 78 68, Shaun P Webster 73 71 77 71

293 Wen Teh Lu (Tai) 75 70 75 73, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 72 74 74 73, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 75 76 71, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 73 71 75 74, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 72 78 71, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 70 74 76 73, Jason Knutzon (USA) 71 73 76 73

294 Simon Yates 73 74 72 75, Stephen Gallacher 68 77 76 73, Sung-Man Lee (Kor) 75 72 74 73, Johan Edfors (Swe) 71 74 78 71, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 73 74 75 72

295 Richard Sterne (Rsa) 73 73 74 75, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 76 75 73, David Dixon 71 76 76 72, Oliver Wilson 74 73 78 70

296 Bryan Saltus (USA) 71 73 75 77

297 Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha) 70 76 78 73, Kenneth Ferrie72 75 77 73, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 75 72 75 75

300 Adam Groom (Aus) 71 75 78 76

301 Stuart Little 73 71 81 76

303 Alistair Presnell (Aus) 74 73 80 76

304 Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 70 77 77 80