Thomas Bjorn birdied the final hole to snatch victory at the Nissan Irish Open.

Bjorn's last tournament in Ireland saw him squander a four-shot lead with a final round of 86 in the European Open, including an horrendous 11 on the 17th.

Twelve months before that, he had walked off the course after just six holes of the same event, saying he was "fighting demons".

But this time the Dane was celebrating one of the most amazing comebacks in European Tour history with victory in the weather-delayed Irish Open at Carton House.

Bjorn admitted he was checking airline schedules in readiness for an early exit after an opening 78 which featured a triple-bogey eight on the 18th.

Five days later, however, he returned to the same hole following rounds of 66 - equalling the course record despite miserable conditions - and 67, and carded a superb birdie four to complete a closing 72 to edge out playing partner Paul Casey and claim the £250,000 first prize.

Home favourite Darren Clarke finished third after fluffing his pitch to the 18th and then three-putting for bogey, but emerged with enormous credit after an incident on the ninth when play resumed.

Clarke had pushed his tee shot into heavy rough before play was suspended on Sunday evening, and knew his only option was to chip out sideways.

When play resumed on Monday he found the ball in a much better lie but refused to take advantage of any misguided intervention and chipped out sideways, eventually taking a bogey five.

The day belonged to Bjorn, however, and few could argue with his belief that.

Bjorn said: "You could say this country owes me one, that's for sure.

"I've lost in a play-off in the Irish Open and obviously what happened last year is something you want to put behind you.

"This was important for me, an important place for me to do it. It opens up a lot of things for me.

"Something comes up in September in this country I want to be a part of (the Ryder Cup at the nearby K Club) and I needed to win early in the summer. At least now I've given myself a chance."

Bjorn's opening round of 78 equalled the highest ever start by a tournament winner on the European Tour, and the 35-year-old paid tribute to psychologist Jos Vanstiphout for his input during the 50-minute break between that triple-bogey eight and the start of round two.

"Jos takes a lot of credit for this," admitted Bjorn, who looked out of the reckoning after a bogey on 16, but birdied 17 and 18 to claim his ninth tour title.

"Obviously he talks about things and then you have to do it yourself. It's quite easy in that situation just to let it go in one ear and out the other, but I take a lot of pride that I did go out and do the things that I did in the second round.

"It's character building and confidence building and the last three rounds are very, very special for me."

Clarke held a two-shot lead overnight but was always expecting to face a tough shot when play resumed.

Instead he found his ball sitting so well that he could reach the green, but insisted on chipping out sideways and ran up a bogey five.

A run of six straight pars was enough to keep him in front of the chasing pack, but a bogey on the 16th allowed Casey, Bjorn - and initially Swede Peter Hedblom - to catch up, and another dropped shot on the last ended Clarke's hopes of becoming the first home winner since 1982.

The 37-year-old played down the incident on the ninth, insisting: "It's just part and parcel of the game.

"Yesterday I had a very poor lie and I got back out this morning and either a lot of people had been looking for it, or a lot of people had flattened the grass around it, it was a much better lie than when I left it.

"I could have hit it onto the front of the green but if I had done I would have held my head in shame walking all the way to the green so I just decided to chip it out and play it like I would have last night."

As for the end result, Clarke added: "It's obviously very disappointing. It was a tournament I really wanted to win and I'm a bit gutted at the minute to finish bogey-par-bogey."

It was also further disappointment for Ryder Cup star Casey, who last week let slip a two-shot lead going into the final round of the British Masters at The Belfry.

Joint leader going into the final round, the Englishman looked out of contention after three dropped shots in four holes on the front nine, but birdied the 12th and 15th to catch the leaders.

Two massive blows had him on the front edge of the 18th green in two, but that was still almost 100ft from the flag and the 28-year-old three-putted after leaving his first putt 10ft short.

Collated fourth round scores and totals in the European Nissan Irish Open, Carton House GC, Ireland

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

283 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 78 66 67 72

284 Paul Casey 73 70 68 73

285 Darren Clarke 75 70 67 73

286 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 70 70 74

287 Anthony Wall 73 68 70 76, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 74 68 72 73, Robert Rock 75 73 68 71, Ross Fisher 73 70 69 75, Maarten Lafeber (Nedl) 71 74 71 71, Bradley Dredge 71 73 72 71

288 Padraig Harrington 71 74 69 74

289 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 72 74 68 75, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 72 70 71 76, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 72 73 71 73

290 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 71 74 75, Phillip Archer 75 69 70 76, Stuart Little 74 74 70 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 76 71 68 75

291 Richard Bland 76 72 69 74, Colm Moriarty (Ie) 77 71 70 73, Damien McGrane 75 69 74 73, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 73 71 72 75, Nick Dougherty 75 72 72 72, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 72 71 72 76, Peter Lawrie 75 68 75 73, Stephen Browne 78 69 72 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 72 74 75 70

292 Gary Orr 77 71 72 72, Tom Whitehouse 73 69 72 78

293 Marc Warren 75 72 72 74, Andres Romero (Arg) 75 73 68 77, David Dixon 74 70 74 75, Ian Woosnam 77 70 75 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 77 72 74, Sam Little 75 73 71 74, Barry Lane 73 74 70 76

294 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 76 72 72 74, Paul Lawrie 75 68 71 80, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 75 68 73 78, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 72 73 78, David Higgins 74 74 74 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 70 72 79, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 75 70 73 76

295 Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 74 73 74 74, Iain Pyman 70 73 77 75, Stephen Gallacher 77 71 74 73, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 79 69 72 75, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 71 76 72 76

296 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 74 71 73 78, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 75 69 76 76, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 76 70 76 74, Ian Garbutt 74 72 72 78

297 Brett Rumford (Aus) 74 74 73 76, Matthew Millar (Aus) 75 72 72 78, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 73 67 74 83

298 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 75 73 75 75, Ariel Canete (Arg) 76 68 75 79, David Lynn 74 74 72 78, David Griffiths 77 70 72 79

299 Carl Suneson (Spa) 77 71 73 78, Alastair Forsyth 74 74 77 74, Ian Poulter 71 70 73 85, Marcel Siem (Ger) 79 68 68 84, Simon Dyson 76 72 78 73, Johan Edfors (Swe) 69 78 75 77

300 Rafael Gomez (Arg) 75 72 74 79, Steve Webster 72 76 77 75, Soren Hansen (Den) 76 70 74 80

301 Mark Foster 76 72 73 80

303 Mikael Lundberg (Swe)

75 72 76 80, Richard McEvoy 76 71 76 80