World number two Phil Mickelson held his nerve at the second play-off hole to edge out English duo Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood to win the HSBC Champions in Shanghai and claim his first overseas title in 14 years.

Overnight leader Mickelson held a five-stroke advantage over Fisher through seven holes of his final round, but dropped six shots in eight holes to hand Fisher a one-stroke advantage heading up the last.

But after Fisher shot a double bogey at the last and Mickelson could only manage a bogey six after finding water with his second shot, the pair dropped to 10-under-par overall and a three-way tie with Westwood.

Westwood had stormed up the final round leaderboard with a final round five-under-par 67, which included six birdies on the back nine.

All three had birdie chances at the first play-off hole, but after Westwood and Mickelson both narrowly missed, Fisher held his nerve to two-putt from eight feet.

At the second play-off hole, Westwood found water at the front of the green and Fisher hit his second into greenside bunker, with Mickelson on the fringes of the green.

Westwood, following a drop, played his fourth shot through the green and agonisingly down the slop into the water, while Fisher chipped out of the bunker to within eight feet in four.

But Mickelson played a deft flop to four feet with his third, and after Fisher missed, the American holed his birdie putt to claim the US Dollars 833,300 first prize and 'Champion of Champions' title.

American Kevin Stadler finished fourth at nine-under, with Open champion Padraig Harrington a shot further back with Vijay Singh after a final round one-under-par 71.

Paul Casey, playing in the final group with Fisher and Mickelson, endured a nightmare fourth round and carded a six-over-par 78 to slip to five under.

Mickelson crucially grabbed a birdie at the par-four 16th to cut Fisher's lead to just one before his bogey at the last left the three-time Major winner two over par for his final round.

"I had a huge lead early in the round, but I hit some horrible shots. I had six penalty strokes in the final round, which made it a difficult day. But I kept fighting, and it's a funny old game golf, you never know what's going to happen," said Mickelson, who had previously claimed just one title away from American - the 1993 Tournoi Perrier Paris title on the European Challenge Tour.

"I never thought after hitting the water I had a chance, but it happened and I'm very thankful to be the recipient of this year's championship trophy.

"It feels amazing I don't know how it happened. The whole day was a whirlwind, but what a fun day and what a fun opportunity to come and play here in China."

Wentworth-based Fisher fired three consecutive 68s to earn his place in Sunday's final group, a feat he achieved at February's Dubai Desert Classic on the way to a fifth place finish and at the BMW PGA Championship in May, where he led heading into the final day.

But Fisher, who picked up his maiden European Tour win at the KLM Open in Holland earlier his year, came just short of landing his second career title with a two-over-par 72 in the final round.

"It was a tough day, I didn't think I had blown it, but I thought I was out of it after nine holes. I kept telling myself to hang in there with the back nine still to go," said Fisher.

"Obviously I came here to win, and obviously that wasn't the case, but I can walk out of here with my head held high.

"I can take a lot from this. I've pushed the world number two all the way. I am obviously disappointed not to walk away with the trophy, but it's been a great week."

Westwood began the day at five under par - nine shots adrift of Mickelson - and after reaching the turn one over for the round, he appeared to be out of the hunt.

But after beginning the back nine with two birdies, picked up five straight shots after carding a par at the 12th, and even had a chance at the title after missing birdie putts at 17 and the last.

"I didn't imagine, even when I had one hole to play, that I would ever be in the play-off, so I'm not that disappointed," said Westwood.

"I didn't think 10-under would be quite enough. I would have liked to have holed the one on the last and seen what that would have done, but I'm pleased with 10-under because it didn't look like that after nine holes."

Collated fourth round scores & totals in the European Tour HSBC Champions, Sheshan International GC, Shanghai, China

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

278 Phil Mickelson (USA) 68 66 68 76 (Phil Mickelson won at the second play-off hole), Ross Fisher 68 68 68 74, Lee Westwood 70 74 67 67

279 Kevin Stadler (USA) 64 69 73 73

280 Vijay Singh (Fij) 67 70 72 71, Padraig Harrington 68 72 69 71

281 Steve Webster 69 70 72 70

282 Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 68 69 72 73

283 Paul Casey 68 71 66 78, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 70 71 72

284 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 71 68 72 73

285 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 68 72 72 73

286 Nick Dougherty 71 70 74 71, Simon Yates 70 66 75 75

287 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 69 72 72, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 72 73 71, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 69 73 73 72

288 Nathan Green (Aus) 73 68 69 78, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 74 71 74, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 75 72 69

289 Ernie Els (Rsa) 75 69 70 75, Markus Brier (Aut) 69 73 73 74, Bradley Dredge 73 73 72 71

290 Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 71 72 74 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 68 72 69 81, Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 71 73 74 72

291 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 75 74 72, Scott Hend (Aus) 69 74 75 73, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 64 75 74 78, Scott Sterling (USA) 69 73 74 75, John Senden (Aus) 73 72 75 71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 72 70 79

292 Brett Rumford (Aus) 69 71 75 77, Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 75 71 74, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 69 70 75 78, Jason Knutzon (USA) 71 73 71 77

293 Anders Hansen (Den) 70 72 77 74

294 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 72 73 76, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 70 74 82 68, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 75 73 73 73, Sung Lee (Kor) 73 76 71 74, Marc Leishman (Aus) 74 72 75 73, Ian Poulter 70 78 74 72, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 69 72 74 79, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 71 75 73 75

295 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 72 76 74, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 70 78 73 74

296 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 72 78 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 75 79 71

297 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 73 73 72 79, KJ Choi (Kor) 68 77 76 76, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 74 74 73 76

298 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 74 71 70 83, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 74 74 77 73

299 Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 70 75 81 73, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 77 71 77 74

300 Andres Romero (Arg) 69 77 76 78

301 Soren Hansen (Den) 73 75 77 76, Bradford Vaughan (Rsa) 74 72 74 81, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 70 74 78 79

302 Anton Haig (Rsa) 77 69 74 82, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 75 72 80 75

305 Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 71 78 82 74, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 73 75 72 85, Paul Sheehan (Aus) 74 75 78 78

310 Pablo Martin (Spa) 73 76 78 83