Swede Johan Edfors, 410th in the world at the start of the year, became the shock winner of the Quinn Direct British Masters at The Belfry after three of the biggest names in European golf all had a day to forget.

With a round to play, Paul Casey led by two from US Open champion Michael Campbell with Darren Clarke one shot further back.

But in what became a comedy of errors, Casey and Clarke both shot 76 and Campbell had a 74 - and not one of them even managed second place, let alone take the £300,000 title.

Thirty-year-old Edfors, little-known until now apart from the fact that he used to have Sven-Goran Eriksson's son as his caddie, needed only a closing 70 to take the title with an 11-under-par total of 277.

The winning cheque more than doubled his European tour earnings - and that is even taking into account his maiden victory on the circuit in China in March.

Edfors won there with a closing birdie. This time he triumphed despite a closing bogey - and that rather summed up the final day action.

Birdie putts of 25 feet at the 15th and 17th, the two par fives on the inward half of the famous Ryder Cup venue, were the shots which suddenly make him a leading candidate for this September's match in Dublin.

England's Gary Emerson (67), Scot Stephen Gallacher (71) and Swede Jarmo Sandelin (70) finished joint second - and would have been in a play-off if they had birdied the 473-yard last.

Casey and Campbell came to the hole in the same position but were hardly full of confidence after what had gone before - and once both had missed the green, they bogeyed to fall into a tie for fifth place.

Clarke, meanwhile, bogeyed three of the last four and ended up only tied 11th.

Casey actually stretched his lead to three with nine to play, Campbell three-putting from five feet for a double-bogey six at the ninth. But he then came home in 40 to blow what would have been a second successive victory on the course.

The 2003 Benson and Hedges International champion could not resist going for the green on the par-four 10th, where the tee had been moved forward 50 yards.

It might have paid off, but it did not. He went in the water, double-bogeyed and by bogeying the next as well fell into a five-way tie with Campbell, Edfors, Sandelin and Gallacher.

Campbell promptly bogeyed two of the next three, but Edfors seized the chance and after collecting the trophy the man who until this season had never finished higher than ninth said: "It's been a fantastic year for me.

"After winning the Challenge Tour in 2003 I thought I had the game, but I realised I didn't.

"I wasn't good enough. Some aspects were far too poor. I lost my card, changed my coach and have made a lot of changes."

He made his seventh trip to the qualifying school last November, finished 13th and has not looked back since. He came to The Belfry with his world ranking up to 194th and he left it 12th in the Ryder Cup race.

Casey is eighth, but is likely to discover tomorrow he still has not made it back into the world's top 50 and so still needs to qualify for next month's US Open.

He said: "Things just didn't go the right way. The five-wood on the 10th wasn't far off from being absolutely perfect and I think it was the right decision.

"It was 10 yards too far left, it's as simple as that. But that's the game I play and mistakes are going to happen as The Belfry is one of those courses where danger is lurking.

"I hung in there as good as I could and it wasn't good enough unfortunately. The ball was just not coming off the putter very well and that was probably the most frustrating thing."

Campbell commented: "The middle of the round was strange as I lost my focus. The double on nine came from nowhere and caught me off guard.

"But the week is not all that bad - it's not all doom and gloom. I know that I am slowly building confidence and this will help for the US Open."

Order of Merit leader David Howell finished with a 68 for 11th place, but is not certain to play this week's Irish Open.

Howell played at The Belfry after a month off with back trouble and while pleased with his performance in the circumstances, it was not pain-free.

"I'll make a decision tomorrow or Tuesday," said the Swindon golfer, clutching a magnum of champagne for a birdie at the last that was very nearly an eagle two.

"I'm not right yet. It's not like I can't swing, but I don't have freedom in my swing and I am protective of it.

"There are some big events coming up, but there's no guarantee if I don't play this week that I'll improve."

A Jaguar car was put up as a nearest-the-pin prize on the 208-yard 12th and it was by England's Ross Fisher with a shot to 32 inches.

Collated final round scores and totals

(Gbr and Irl unless stated, par 72):

(x) denotes amateur

277 Johan Edfors (Swe) 68 69 70 70 (£300,000)

278 Gary Emerson 68 70 73 67, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 71 70 70, Stephen Gallacher 71 66 70 71 (£134,226 each)

279 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 67 70 68 74, Paul Casey 67 66 70 76 (£69,660 each)

280 Paul Broadhurst 70 72 70 68 (£54,000)

281 Graeme McDowell 70 68 73 70, Jonathan Lomas 70 73 68 70, Tom Whitehouse 70 71 69 71

282 David Howell 70 72 72 68, Oliver Wilson 68 74 68 72, Darren Clarke 66 70 70 76

283 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 72 72 74 65, Padraig Harrington 75 66 74 68, Soren Kjeldsen

(Den) 68 74 73 68, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 71 71 72 69, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 71 73 68 71, Richard Green (Aus) 70 69 73 71, Ian Poulter 68 69 74 72, Anders Hansen (Den) 73 69 69 72

284 Ross Fisher 73 70 73 68, David Bransdon (Aus) 69 72 74 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 70 73 71, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 72 70 71 71, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 66 74 73

285 Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 72 72 73 68, Stephen Dodd 74 70 71 70, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 73 71 70 71, Simon Wakefield 71 73 70 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 73 69 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 69 72 73

286 Simon Dyson 71 73 71 71, Anthony Wall 75 68 72 71, Andrew Marshall 71 72 72 71, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 72 72 70 72, David Lynn 70 72 72 72, Bradley Dredge 71 71 71 73, Graeme Storm 74 64 74 74

287 David Carter 71 73 72 71, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 69 72 74 72, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 70 74 70 73, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 70 71 73 73

288 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 74 72 73, David Higgins 68 75 71 74, Gary Orr 70 73 71 74

289 Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 69 72 76 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 70 75 72, Kenneth Ferrie 70 73 74 72, Simon Khan 74 68 75 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 74 70 72 73, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 74 65 75 75, Warren Abery (Rsa) 71 68 73 77

290 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 70 72 72 76, Ian Woosnam 69 71 73 77, Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 72 72 80

291 Jamie Donaldson 72 71 77 71, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 69 73 75 74, Barry Lane 75 67 74 75

292 Miguel Carballo (Arg) 71 73 75 73, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 74 70 73 75, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 73 71 73 75

293 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 75 69 79 70, Richard McEvoy 76 68 78 71, (x) Lloyd Saltman 69 75 76 73

295 Steven O'Hara 70 74 77 74, Gary Evans 69 75 77 74

297Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 69 74 80 74, Phillip Price 70 73 77 77