England's Oliver Wilson was left to rue missed chances as South African Anton Haig edged a thrilling three-way play-off to win the Johnnie Walker Classic at the Blue Canyon Country Club in Phuket.

Wilson, who lost a play-off to Paul Casey at the 2006 Volvo China Open, carded a final-round 71 to join Haig and overnight leader Richard Sterne on 275 - 13 under par - to force a thrilling climax.

Haig looked to have slipped out of contention after carding a bogey at the par-four 17th but birdied the last with a six-foot putt to complete a final-round 70 and watched as Wilson and Sterne missed chances on the final green.

The 26-year-old Mansfield-born player and Sterne both missed their third shots in the first play-off hole at the 403-yard par-four 18th - Sterne agonisingly watched as his eight-foot putt caught the edge of the hole but stayed out - to allow Haig to land the £208,330 first prize and claim his first victory on the European Tour.

"I had my chances and didn't take them," said Wilson. "It was easy from the middle of the fairway both in regulation play and in the play-off on the 18th and I didn't get the ball within 20 feet. That was disappointing.

"I hit a great putt in the play-off but probably gave myself too much to do with Richard and Anton well inside me."

Haig, who won the 2006 Asian Masters to clinch his first Asian tour title after leading from start to finish, could not hide his delight after coming top of a star-studded field that included Ryder Cup stars Paul Casey and Colin Montgomerie and former Johnnie Walker Classic winners Adam Scott, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

"At the start of the week I didn't think this was actually going to be possible. But after that 64 in my second round, I knew I was hitting the ball good enough to win. The driver went straight for me and the putts fell," he said.

"And that putt on the last, what a feeling that is. If only I could describe it in words. I really played well this week and hopefully there are many more to come.

"On the play-off hole I hit a good wedge to about ten feet and made that. What a feeling to birdie one of the toughest holes out there."

Sterne, who admitted earlier in the week he expected to miss the cut following an opening round 75, carded a final-round 72 after shooting back-to-back 64s.

"I played my best but it didn't go the way I wanted to go. It's great for Anton. I'm disappointed but I did my best. It's been a good week, is shows anything can happen in golf," said the South African.

Colin Montgomerie finished tied for sixth at eight under, while England's Simon Hurd was a further two shots back and Graeme Storm, who carded a two-over-par final round, finished tied for 16th at five under.

"I'm over the moon. I felt comfortable out there, which I hope is a start to something better and something new," said Hurd, who shot up the leaderboard following a third-round 66.

"I didn't expect to finish like this at the start of the tournament. After playing well in my first round at the Indonesian Open I lost my swing in the second round.

"But the last 18 today I felt I found my swing again and hit a lot of quality shots. I didn't quite hole the putts when I wanted to, but I'm happy with the weekend and I'm happy with my finish."

Storm added: "I played well on the front nine but I struggled on the back nine, I just got frustrated.

"A top-20 finish is always good, but I thought I had a chance to at the top 10."

Scotland's Stephen Gallacher, who shot to the top of the leaderboard following a round of 66 in his first outing, finished on four under par alongside Australian Scott and India's Jeev Milkha Singh, who was earlier in the week named the Johnnie Walker Classic Asian Player of the Year for 2006.

Collated final round scores and totals

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

275 Anton Haig (Rsa) 71 64 70 70 (won at first play-off hole), Oliver Wilson 68 66 70 71, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 75 64 64 72

278 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 68 72 70

279 Mike Weir (Can) 66 78 68 67

280 Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 69 73 74 64, Colin Montgomerie 69 70 70 71, Ernie Els (Rsa) 73 70 67 70, David Frost (Rsa) 69 70 72 69

281 Richard Bland 68 70 72 71, Iain Steel (Myn) 69 73 70 69, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 72 69 71 69, Simon Hurd 73 71 66 71

282 Richard Lee (Nzl) 67 70 70 75, Marc Warren 68 72 71 71

283 Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe) 68 70 71 74, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 71 73 68, Aron Price (Aus) 74 68 67 74, Garry Houston 72 68 73 70, Chris Rodgers 71 70 71 71, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 70 70 73 70, Graeme Storm 66 73 70 74, Adam Bland (Aus) 71 67 75 70, Alastair Forsyth 74 70 69 70

284 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 67 72 71 74, Stephen Gallacher 66 76 68 74, Adam Scott (Aus) 74 69 70 71, Matthew Millar (Aus) 71 70 71 72, James Nitties (Aus) 69 67 74 74, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 65 77 71 71, Mark Foster 72 70 72 70

285 Damien McGrane 71 72 69 73, Phillip Archer 74 69 67 75, Jong Yul Suk (Kor) 70 74 70 71, Simon Dyson 71 70 73 71, David Lynn 73 69 73 70

286 Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 72 69 71 74, Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 72 76 72, Bryan Saltus (USA) 74 69 72 71, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 72 70 67 77, Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 71 73 72 70

287 Gary Orr 73 68 74 72, Edward Michaels (USA) 70 74 74 69, Scott Strange (Aus) 73 69 69 76, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 70 71 75 71, Jun-Won Park (Kor) 71 73 71 72, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 70 71 72 74, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 71 71 74 71, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 75 69 74 69, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 73 69 71 74, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 70 73 73 71

288 Keith Horne (Rsa) 68 71 73 76, Craig Parry (Aus) 69 74 77 68, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 72 74 72, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 68 75 74, Wen Teh Lu (Tpe) 69 75 75 69

289 Marcus Both (Aus) 73 70 71 75, Kim Felton (Aus) 70 68 74 77, Nick Flanagan (Aus) 70 69 77 73

290 Graeme McDowell 67 76 70 77, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 70 75 73, Peter Fowler (Aus) 68 72 77 73

291 Andrew Coltart 72 72 74 73, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 71 71 75 74

292 Andrew Marshall 73 71 77 71, Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 70 74 75 73, Barry Hume 68 74 79 71, Simon Khan 70 74 72 76

293 Ken Chi Ling (Tpe) 70 71 80 72, David Diaz (Aus) 73 71 76 73, Adam Blyth (Aus) 70 72 75 76

294 Unho Park (Aus) 70 74 75 75

295 Markus Brier (Aut) 74 68 76 77

296 Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 71 76 78, Lee Sung (Kor) 71 72 78 75

297 Chris Campbell (Aus) 72 72 77 76, Scott Gardiner (Aus) 67 77 79 74

308 Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 71 73 76 88