Seven years after being overlooked for a Ryder Cup wild card, Sweden's Robert Karlsson today took a massive step towards an automatic place in the European team.

Karlsson claimed his second European Tour title in two months at the Deutsche Bank Players' Championship to move into seventh in the standings with just five weeks remaining before the team is finalised.

The 36-year-old fired a closing 67 for a 25-under-par total of 263 at Gut Kaden and a four-shot victory over playing partner Lee Westwood - who birdied three of the last four holes in his 69 - and 21-year-old South African Charl Schwartzel (65).

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell celebrated his 27th birthday with a closing 65 to share fourth with world number five Retief Goosen, Argentina's Andres Romero and Italy's Emanuele Canonica.

Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam could only manage a closing 72 for a share of 11th place.

Karlsson came agonisingly close to making the team in 1999, finishing 11th in the standings and ninth in the final counting event in Munich before being overlooked for a wild card by captain Mark James.

He admitted during his Wales Open victory in June it was a "heartbreaking" decision and insisted on not looking ahead to the contest at the K Club in September.

"It will be fantastic to be in the team but that's a bonus for playing well," he said.

"Come September that will be something to think about.

"But right now there are more tournaments to come and I think I've got to start to understand that I've won this one first before the Ryder Cup."

Leading by two shots overnight, Karlsson immediately saw that cut to one as Westwood birdied the first from 10 feet.

He went two clear again with a birdie on the par-five third and was crucially handed some breathing space when Westwood ran up a double bogey on the fourth after finding a water hazard with his approach and fluffing his pitch to the green.

"That was actually the toughest period of the round because it's so easy to get caught up in 'now I'm probably so many ahead,"' Karlsson insisted.

"It was easier when he was closer in a way, easier for me to be really focused on what I was doing.

"I had to keep reminding myself to keep playing because there were so many holes to go."

A long birdie putt on the seventh briefly took Karlsson five clear of the chasing pack but Romero then birdied four out of five holes from the ninth to get within two shots.

Karlsson responded superbly with an approach to two feet for birdie on the 11th and was again given a helping hand from his rivals when Romero ran up a double-bogey five on the 14th.

That effectively sealed victory and Karlsson could even afford the luxury of losing a ball on the 18th to run up a double-bogey six.

Westwood, who moved to 21st in the cup standings with his best finish this season, said: "Even after the fourth hole I felt like I had a chance, especially when I birdied the 10th to get within three shots.

"But then Robert hit two great shots into the 11th for birdie and I three-putted the 12th, so that was it really there.

"But I was pleased to birdie three of the last four. I hit three great drives there so I'm pleased with that.

"The way I have been playing, second is not too bad. I have not been in contention for a while now and this is a nice progression. I have a couple of weeks off now and I am looking forward to the PGA. This will lift me up the world rankings, which I needed to do, and I should be inside the top 50 now and so I am quite positive for the rest of the year."

McDowell gave his slim Ryder Cup chances a boost with two rounds of 65 over the weekend but will not chase more points over the next two weeks in favour of a much-needed rest.

"That's a nice little birthday present but it's not going to get me rushing to Sweden (for the Scandinavian Masters)," said McDowell, who led after the first round of the Open last week before fading to 61st.

"I'm really tired and haven't been on my game, especially on Thursday and Friday. I slept well on Friday after making the cut and had a nice weekend. I've not been on top of my mental game and not firing on all cylinders at the weekend. Knowing I had time off made me relax and take the pressure off.

"I've made mistakes with my schedule this year, playing too much, and I'm not going to do that again."

Collated scores and totals in final round of the European Tour Deutsche Bank Players' Championship, Gut Kaden, Hamburg, Germany

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 72)

(x) denotes amateurs

263 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 64 66 66 67 (£409,469)

267 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 64 68 67, Lee Westwood 63 68 67 69 (£213,388 each)

268 Graeme McDowell 68 70 65 65, Andres Romero (Arg) 70 65 67 66, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 64 68 69 67, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 67 68 66 67 (£96,675 each)

269 Gary Orr 67 64 70 68 (£61,420)

270 Soren Hansen (Den) 70 67 66 67, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 66 67 68 (£52,084 each)

272 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 67 66 73 66, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 66 70 68, Ian Woosnam 65 66 69 72

273 Tim Clark (Rsa) 68 69 68 68

274 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 66 71 69 68, Luke Donald 67 66 71 70, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 68 69 66 71

275 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 68 71 65, Anthony Wall 72 66 69 68, Paul McGinley 70 66 69 70, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 69 66 67 73

276 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 68 69 73 66, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 66 71 67, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 70 66 70, Ian Poulter 68 67 70 71, Matthew Millar (Aus) 67 69 68 72, Garry Houston 66 68 69 73

277 Simon Khan 67 70 73 67, Sven Struver (Ger) 68 70 70 69, Todd Hamilton (USA) 71 69 68 69, Markus Brier (Aut) 74 65 67 71, Padraig Harrington 68 65 72 72, Damien McGrane 69 66 70 72

278 Mark Foster 70 70 72 66, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 67 72 70, Stephen Gallacher 66 72 70 70

279 Graeme Storm 67 69 75 68, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 69 69 72 69, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 70 69 70 70, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 65 70 73 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 71 68 69 71, Gary Emerson 68 69 70 72, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 67 71 69 72, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 68 67 69 75

280 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 69 68 71 72, Richard McEvoy 71 69 68 72, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 67 71 69 73, Anders Hansen (Den) 69 66 71 74, Johan Edfors (Swe) 68 67 69 76

281 Tom Whitehouse 74 65 72 70, Phillip Price 70 70 70 71, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 70 70 70 71, Steven O'Hara 71 69 69 71

282 Alastair Forsyth 68 72 72 70, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 68 69 73 72, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 70 70 72, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 67 72 68 75, Gregory Havret (Fra) 65 70 70 77

283 Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 70 70 74 69, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 71 69 74 69, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 70 69 71 73, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 68 71 71 73, Jamie Spence 72 68 70 73, Phillip Archer 68 71 70 74, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 71 68 69 75

284 Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 70 71 73, Tino Schuster (Ger) 71 69 70 74

285 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 72 68 74 71, Robert Rock 68 68 71 78

286 Jonathan Lomas 68 72 72 74

289 Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 70 71 79