Young South African Charl Schwartzel won a test of endurance as well as skill today to become Spanish Open champion in Madrid.

After three days interrupted by rain all the leaders at Centro Nacional had to play the bulk of their third rounds as well as the closing 18 holes on the final day.

And a 15-foot eagle putt on the long 16th proved decisive as the 22-year-old from Johannesburg captured his second European Tour title by one shot from Indian Jyoti Randhawa.

Schwartzel shot rounds of 68 and 67 to take the £226,150 first prize with a 16-under-par total of 272 - and then paid tribute to the man at his side.

Caddying for him for only the third time was Ernie Els' former bag-man Ricci Roberts and Schwartzel said: "He has helped quite a lot - he is very confident and that gives me a little edge.

"It feels good. People said I'd won on the European Tour before but in South Africa (the 2005 dunhill championship), but I said I could do it in Europe too and it was just a matter of time before it all clicks in.

"The three shots on the 16th were probably the three best I hit all week. It's not a tee shot to laugh at with water all down the left, but I hit it perfectly and then had the perfect three-iron yardage."

It was a nervy finish to both rounds for him, though. He double-bogeyed the 18th on his first visit of the day and when returning there with a two-shot lead was twice in rough, but escaped with a bogey that proved good enough when Spaniard Carlos Rodiles, needing a birdie to tie, found heavy rough left of the green and bogeyed.

"It was a good thing I could have some lunch after that double - I was steaming," added Schwartzel.

"It was only 20 minutes before we had to tee off again, but it gave me time to cool down."

For Randhawa, who had set the target of 15 under with a closing 67 of his own, it was a fourth runners-up finish - but he has tasted victory seven times in Asia.

Randhawa, whose wife gave up her Bollywood film career to spend more time with him, became a father for the first time earlier this month and was hoping to complete a remarkable recovery.

He was five over par after 13 holes of the first round and yet led by two with four to play. As he bogeyed the 15th, however, Schwartzel birdied the 13th and then it all swung round on the 16th, where Randhawa only parred.

Randhawa married Chitrangada "Tina" Singh in 2000, who three years later shot to fame with her debut movie.

More followed and she also became a fashion model, but that inevitably took her away from Randhawa more than they both liked.

"Spending time together was getting to be an issue for us," he said.

"Either I was playing golf or she was busy doing movies.

"Finally she herself decided to quit as she wanted to stay with me all the time - and I must say I was happy with her decision."

Rodiles was left to regret not only his closing bogey, but also a missed eagle chance from only six feet at the 16th after a glorious second shot.

He had been three clear as he started the final round, but managed only a level-par 72.

Joint fourth were English pair Simon Dyson and Mark Foster.

Schwartzel's win will take him into the top 50 and could mean a place for him in the Players Championship in Florida.

Collated final-round scores and totals

(Gbr and Irl unless stated, Par 72):

272 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 68 68 67 (£226,150)

273 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 75 65 66 67 (£150,767)

274 Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 66 66 72 (£84,942)

275 Simon Dyson 69 69 66 71, Mark Foster 68 69 70 68

276 Andres Romero (Arg) 70 71 69 66, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 68 71 69 68

277 Tom Whitehouse 71 71 67 68, Alastair Forsyth 68 74 66 69, Stephen Gallacher 71 68 69 69, Nick Dougherty 66 71 70 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 67 69 71 70, Stuart Little 67 69 70 71

278 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 70 67 70, Graeme Storm 68 72 73 65, Phillip Price 73 65 70 70

279 Paul McGinley 70 72 68 69, Bradley Dredge 69 72 69 69, Johan Edfors (Swe) 71 69 70 69

280 Andrew Tampion (Aus) 74 67 70 69, David Lynn 72 69 69 70, Peter Lawrie 76 65 69 70

281 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 71 71 69, Simon Wakefield 73 69 70 69, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 67 75 72 67, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 71 71 69, Graeme McDowell 71 69 71 70, Gareth Davies 69 70 73 69, Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 71 73 68 69, Richard Bland 68 71 71 71

282 Manuel Quiros (Spa) 72 68 69 73, Kenneth Ferrie 69 71 71 71, Gary Murphy 71 72 71 68, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 72 71 71, Paul Lawrie 74 69 66 73, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 72 67 69 74, Notah Begay (USA) 68 70 73 71

283 Jonathan Lomas 70 70 73 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 73 70 69 71, Oliver Wilson 70 73 70 70, Andrew Raitt 68 70 74 71, David Carter 71 73 68 71

284 Carlos Balaseda (Spa) 70 74 69 71

285 David Park 70 71 70 74, David Drysdale 69 73 72 71, Oliver Fisher 70 74 69 72, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 70 74 70 71

286 Damien McGrane 72 70 68 76, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 69 73 69 75, Ariel Canete (Arg) 71 73 72 70, Ian Garbutt 71 73 72 70

287 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 73 73 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 72 72 72

288 Andrew Coltart 70 72 74 72, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 74 73 72, Gary Orr 71 72 75 70, Marcus Higley 74 70 71 73

289 Steve Webster 72 69 73 75, Taichi Teshima (Jpn) 72 71 73 73, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 70 77 73

290 Marcel Siem (Ger) 73 71 75 71

291 Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 73 71 76 71

292 Terry Price (Aus) 70 70 78 74, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 71 72 75 74

293 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 77 67 74 75

294 Richard McEvoy 75 69 75 75