Raphael Jacquelin claimed his second European Tour title with a two-stroke victory in the BMW Asian Open at Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club on Sunday.

Jacquelin, who had led the field from start to finish, shot a final round of 73 to finish ahead of Dane Soren Kjeldsen, with Scotland's Simon Yates finishing in a tie for third.

Leading by one at the start of the day, Jaquelin tightened his grip on the title after three birdies on the front nine saw the Frenchman move to 14 under par, four strokes ahead of Kjeldsen.

But as the forecasted rain started to fall on the back nine and scoring proved a challenge, bogeys at the 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th saw the Frenchman eventually triumph but by a much smaller margin than had looked likely at one stage.

A double bogey at the last cost Yates sole possession of second place.

The Scot, who had shot a 64 on Saturday to haul himself into contention, had gone out in 37 but a birdie at the 14th had seen him return to level for the day before the 37-year-old missed a short putt on the 18th green to eventually finish seven under par after recording a final-round 74.

And he reckoned the deteriorating weather conditions eventually undermined his bid for the biggest victory of his career.

"The rain got to me," he said. "The first putt was the fastest putt I had all week. It kept rolling and rolling. I left myself four feet and missed it.

"It wasn't easy out there with the wind and rain. I was playing nicely, just hitting greens and that's what you have to do in this weather. I just had a bad last hole."

Jacquelin, on the other hand, was celebrating capturing his second victory on the European Tour in much the same manner as the first.

The 32-year-old led from start to finish in Madrid in 2005 and did the same here, though his scores progressively worsened as the week went on.

"It's a fantastic moment," he said. "It's difficult to take the lead in the first round and keep it. The last four or five holes were hard, particularly when you're in a position to win. But to win you have to finish."

Jacquelin also felt the weather was a big factor down the stretch and just tried to hold onto his lead after reaching the turn in 33 thanks to birdies at the first, sixth and eighth holes.

"The morning was calm and we had a lot of chances on the front nine," he added. "I started with a birdie so that took the pressure off. Three under after eight and I was pretty confident. Then the wind picked up and with the rain, it was tough from the 12th to the 18th. I started to feel the pressure when I made bogey on the 13th.

"I thought 'just keep going as even if you make bogeys it will be difficult for the others.' I made four in six holes but it was difficult for everyone by then."

Colin Montgomerie's bid fell apart on the final day as a bogey at the 10th and double-bogey at the 12th saw the Scot plummet down the leaderboard after he reached the turn in 38 and he eventually finished on three under par after a disappointing round of 77.

Ernie Els suffered trouble on the greens as the South African failed to produce a final-day charge up the field, eventually completing a round of 72 to remain six under.

"I hit the ball from tee to green pretty well but my putter let me down most of the week," he said. "I needed to get off to a good start and unfortunately, I three-putted the second.

"I made a good birdie on three but I needed to be two or three under through the first six holes."

Graeme McDowell picked up early birdies at the second, seventh and ninth holes to go out in 33, but dropped shots at the 12th and the last saw the Northern Irishman pegged back to five under par after carding a 71.

Simon Dyson also suffered a poor finish to his final 18 holes as consecutive bogeys at the last two holes saw the 29-year-old finish the tournament at four under par after a closing round of 74.

Final round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 72)

278 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 66 69 70 73

280 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 67 72 68 73

281 Simon Yates 74 69 64 74, Scott Hend (Aus) 69 70 67 75

282 Richard Sterne (Rsa) 70 74 69 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 71 68 72, Sung-man Lee (Kor) 68 70 71 73, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 69 68 74

283 Graeme McDowell 73 70 69 71

284 Kane Webber (Aus) 71 73 69 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 69 72 73, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 72 70 67 75, Simon Dyson 70 70 70 74, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 70 69 68 77

285 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 74 69 71, Scott Barr (Aus) 71 70 72 72, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 73 72 68 72, Colin Montgomerie 69 70 69 77

286 Jason Knutzon (USA) 75 70 70 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 74 71 71 70, Tony Carolan (Aus) 69 74 69 74, David Bransdon (Aus) 76 68 68 74, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 72 69 70 75, Adam Blyth (Aus) 71 73 67 75, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 70 67 78

287 Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 74 72 69 72, David Griffiths 73 69 73 72, Garry Houston 71 72 72 72, Peter Hanson (Swe) 69 71 74 73, Matthew Millar (Aus) 73 70 71 73, Damien McGrane 70 73 69 75, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 71 70 69 77

288 Gregory Havret (Fra) 68 75 72 73, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 71 73 73 71, Andres Romero (Arg) 75 70 66 77, Shaun P Webster 72 74 70 72

289 Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 72 74 69 74, Mark Pilkington 71 72 70 76, Keith Horne (Rsa) 73 69 70 77, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 75 71 70 73, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 73 70 75 71, Brett Rumford (Aus) 75 69 75 70

290 Simon Wakefield 72 70 72 76, Kyron Sullivan 75 66 72 77

291 Adam Le Vesconte (Aus) 72 71 72 76, Jean-Francois Luquin (Fra) 71 74 71 75, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 73 72 74, Maradan Mamat (Sin) 72 73 73 73

292 Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 69 75 76, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 73 71 75 73

293 Keng-chi Lin (Tpe) 73 71 72 77, Gary Murphy 74 72 66 81, Yasin Ali 74 72 71 76, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 73 72 77 71

294 Edward Michaels (USA) 74 72 71 77, Stephen Gallacher 72 73 74 75, Edward Loar (USA) 70 75 74 75

295 Ghaurev Ghei (Ind) 75 70 73 77, Peter Lawrie 75 71 72 77, Marcus Both (Aus) 71 74 74 76

296 Chris Rodgers 73 71 75 77, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 72 73 74 77, Wen-tang Lin (Chn) 73 73 73 77

297 Gavin Flint (Aus) 68 73 76 80

298 Jun-won Park (Kor) 69 77 72 80, Sven Struver (Ger) 72 72 75 79, Simon Hurd 74 73 74 78

300 Wen-hong Lin (Tpe) 69 76 72 83

301 Lian-wei Zhiang (Chn) 73 73 78 77

(x) denotes amateurs