Australian Richard Green admitted it was a "huge relief" to finally claim his first European Tour title for a decade in a dramatic climax to the Austrian Open.

Green had two putts from 12 feet on the 18th green to seal victory, but charged his birdie attempt three feet past and missed the return.

That meant a play-off with France's Jean-Francois Remesy, who had carded a superb closing 64 to set the clubhouse target on 16 under after a two-hour delay for lightning at Fontana Golf Club.

The players returned to the 18th and this time it was Remesy who faltered, his approach to the par five finding the rocks on the edge of the water surrounding the green.

The best he could do was a bogey six and Green made absolutely certain of a long-overdue win by chipping to within inches of the hole from the back of the green for birdie to win the first prize of £147,036.

England's Chris Gane eagled the last for a 65 to share third a shot further back alongside Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and Swede Michael Jonzon.

Green sprang to prominence by winning the Dubai Desert Classic in 1997, beating Ian Woosnam and Greg Norman in a play-off.

But until today he had failed to win again despite numerous good chances, and admitted a lack of self-belief had held him back.

"I've had that self-doubt in me for quite a long time," said the 36-year-old from Melbourne, who lost a play-off in the KLM Open to Simon Dyson last year.

"I've got myself into position and played three rounds great but not four, so to get across the line is a huge relief.

"I was probably as nervous as I've ever been on the 18th green and I think that showed with the three putts. I was fortunate that I got into a play-off and still had a chance.

"My brain was pretty scrambled signing my scorecard but a couple of good words from my caddie gathered my thoughts a little bit. He told me to remember my play-off record, having won Dubai and the Australian Masters in extra holes.

"I lost in Holland to Simon Dyson but it's nice to make it three out of four."

Green led by three shots overnight but fell one behind after a four-shot swing in the space of a few seconds.

The left-hander found heavy rough off the third tee, failed to find the green and then three-putted to run up a double-bogey six, and moments later heard the roar from the group ahead as Jimenez holed his second shot to the fifth for an eagle two to jump into the lead.

Green bounced back quickly with birdies from close range on the fifth and sixth to regain the lead on 15 under par before the weather intervened.

On the resumption Jimenez bogeyed the eighth and despite a birdie on the next, it was Remesy who came out of the chasing pack with five birdies in six holes from the 11th.

The 43-year-old narrowly missed for another on the 18th but was still happy with his performance after making just three cuts in the first 13 events of the season.

Remesy won the French Open in 2004 and 2005 - beating Jean Van de Velde in a play-off in 2005 - but admitted he had slacked off after those successful seasons.

"I was struggling towards the end because it's been a long time not being in that position," he said.

"I did my best so I am pretty happy about what I've achieved after the last few months.

"I didn't work, I didn't focus on my game after the great time I had in 2004 and 2005. I was a little tired and just practised enough (to get by), I thought my talent would be enough to keep me in contention.

"The level is so high now, if you don't work hard it's like the train has already left and you are still standing on the platform.

"A month ago I almost stopped playing but I worked on a few things and realised I would still like to continue. A lot of people said 'you can't stop' but when your mind says no it's not easy and you have to find the solution in yourself."

Collated final-round scores

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 71)

268 Richard Green (Aus) 66 65 67 70 (Won at first play-off hole.) (£147,036), Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 67 65 64 (£98,024)

269 Chris Gane 75 65 64 65, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 65 69 67, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 69 64 66 (£45,582)

270 Stephen Gallacher 69 68 68 65 (£30,878)

271 Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 67 66 69 69, Graeme Storm 63 72 69 67

273 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 64 68 73 68, Graeme McDowell 71 69 69 64, Richard McEvoy 66 71 64 72, Tom Whitehouse 65 71 69 68, David Higgins 70 71 67 65

274 Gary Orr 71 67 66 70, Johan Skold (Swe) 70 69 64 71, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 68 69 70, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 67 66 73 68

275 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 65 73 67 70, Taichi Teshima (Jpn) 69 70 70 66, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 65 72 67

276 Shaun P Webster 65 71 68 72, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 70 71 68 67, Matthew Zions (Aus) 68 73 68 67, David Park 69 66 68 73, Euan Little 68 73 66 69, Edward Rush 67 74 68 67

277 Gary Lockerbie 66 72 68 71, Garry Houston 72 63 70 72, Sam Little 73 67 67 70, David Frost (Rsa) 68 71 68 70, Francois Calmels (Fra) 66 73 69 69, Oliver Fisher 68 72 70 67

278 Sion Bebb 70 68 71 69, David Bransdon (Aus) 69 68 73 68

279 Santiago Luna (Spa) 68 71 70 70, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 68 71 69 71, Paul Broadhurst 75 67 68 69

280 Raphael Eyraud (Fra) 69 71 70 70, Steve Alker (Nzl) 69 73 69 69, Richard Finch 66 70 73 71, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 70 70 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 68 70 71 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 68 70 74 68, Miles Tunnicliff 69 68 76 67

281 Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 70 69 72 70, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 73 72 68, Hernan Rey (Arg) 69 73 69 70, Ian Garbutt 71 67 73 70

282 Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 74 68 70 70, Kyron Sullivan 68 72 71 71, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 70 71 70

283 Carl Suneson (Spa) 69 72 70 72, Roope Kakko (Fin) 74 68 72 69, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 67 72 73 71, Peter Fowler (Aus) 70 72 70 71, Lee Westwood 66 72 75 70

284 Jean Hugo (Rsa) 72 70 69 73, Simon Nash (Aus) 73 68 68 75

285 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 70 69 76

286 Rafael Gomez (Arg) 70 71 75 70, Iain Pyman 71 70 73 72

287 Richard Bland 70 71 70 76, Danny Denison 66 76 73 72

288 Andrew Butterfield 72 70 73 73

290 Matjaz Gojcic (Slo) 68 70 73 79, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 70 71 74 75, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 73 69 79 69

291 Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 71 76 74

(x) denotes amateurs):