Rookie of the year Martin Kaymer held his nerve during the final round at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship to claim a maiden European Tour title with a four-stroke victory over Worksop's Lee Westwood and Sweden's Henrik Stenson.

The 23-year-old from Germany began the day with a six-stroke lead over Camberley's one-time Tour winner Anthony Wall and carded a final two-over-par 74 as Westwood and Stenson fell short of overhauling the overnight leader.

Dubai Desert Classic champion Stenson claimed a tie for second with a final-round 71, while Westwood fired a battling 70 which included a bogey at the last.

Westwood, who had backed himself to catch Kaymer following his third-round, seven-under-par 65, had a chance to move within one with five holes to play but agonisingly missed a 10-foot downhill putt.

He also missed a 20-foot birdie chance at the 16th before hitting his second shot at the next over the back of the green and having to scramble for a par four.

Westwood's dropped shot at the last handed Kaymer a comfortable three-stroke cushion heading down the 18th fairway and he made no mistake to collect the US dollars 333,000 first prize with a birdie four - only his second of the final round.

England's Richard Finch, Spain's Ignacio Garrido and Sweden's Peter Hedblom finished tied for third at 10 under par.

"I tried to stick to my game plan and play the fairways and greens and leave it up to the other guys to catch me, I didn't have to make birdies," said Kaymer, who will move into the top 35 of the world rankings in just his second year on the European Tour.

"It was a really tough round, especially between 12 and 15 because it was hard to make pars, but I was patient and I was always thinking that they had to catch me and it worked out.

"Six shots is a lot but it doesn't feel like a lot and the other guys were chasing me the whole time. There was a lot of pressure on the back nine and it is an unbelievable feeling to win."

Westwood stormed back from 12 strokes behind with nine holes to play to force a play-off at last November's HSBC Champions event in Shanghai before losing out to Phil Mickelson and was again left to rue his poor start this week which saw the 34-year-old follow up his opening round 69 with a 73.

"I am not too disappointed. In both tournaments I have got off to slow starts but it happens," said the Worksop golfer, who moves to the top of the Order of Merit.

"I played well over the weekend which is a good time to play well and I can't complain with second.

"I felt a little bit rusty over the first few days and on the greens I was below average.

"Today I didn't really make any putts so it was only the third round when things have gone in and you can't expect to win golf tournaments if you only have one good putting round."

"I tried to stick to my game plan and play the fairways and greens and leave it up to the other guys to catch me, I didn't have to make birdies," said Kaymer, who will move into the top 35 of the world rankings in just his second year on the European Tour.

"It was a really tough round, especially between 12 and 15 because it was hard to make pars, but I was patient and I was always thinking that they had to catch me and it worked out.

"Six shots is a lot but it doesn't feel like a lot and the other guys were chasing me the whole time. There was a lot of pressure on the back nine and it is an unbelievable feeling to win.

"I want to win more tournaments but everybody is already asking me if I want to play in he Ryder Cup.

"Of course I want to play in The Ryder Cup but I am not expecting it yet. But if I could play it would be unbelievable. It would be awesome. But the goal for now and the rest of the year is to win more tournaments."

Collated final-round scores & totals

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

273 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 66 65 68 74

277 Lee Westwood 69 73 65 70, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 67 70 69 71

278 Richard Finch 71 70 69 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 70 70 69, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 70 69 70

279 James Kingston (Rsa) 71 68 72 68, Scott Strange (Aus) 72 71 66 70

280 Ian Poulter 70 70 73 67, Paul McGinley 72 71 66 71

281 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 72 70 71, Rory McIlroy 73 71 69 68, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 72 69 70, Luke Donald 71 73 67 70, Oliver Fisher 72 71 69 69, Padraig Harrington 72 72 69 68

282 Anthony Wall 71 69 65 77, Steve Webster 70 68 71 73, Richard Green (Aus) 75 68 73 66, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 70 72 69, Peter Lawrie 73 70 70 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 73 69 68 72

283 Adam Scott (Aus) 68 74 71 70, Colin Montgomerie 72 72 68 71, Jamie Donaldson 70 71 71 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 74 69 68 72, Simon Dyson 73 71 68 71, Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 72 68 73, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 71 72 69 71

284 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 71 71 73 69, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 72 73 69 70, Paul Lawrie 70 73 71 70, Phillip Archer 71 68 73 72

285 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 70 72 73, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 71 74 69, Mark Foster 70 70 69 76, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 74 68 72, Paul Sheehan (Aus) 73 72 70 70

286 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 71 71 71, Mikko Ilonen (Fij) 70 74 70 72, Rhys Davies 73 71 72 70, John Bickerton 71 70 71 74

287 Peter Hanson (Swe) 74 70 69 74, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 69 73 71, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 70 68 76 73, Sam Little 75 69 71 72, Paul Broadhurst 72 72 68 75, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 71 70 73, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 72 73 71

288 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 73 71 73 71, Nick Dougherty 72 71 69 76, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 72 71 74, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 73 72 73 70, David Lynn 74 70 73 71

289 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 70 75 69 75, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 71 73 73 72, Matt Weibring (USA) 74 70 75 70

290 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 74 71 70 75, Damien McGrane 70 72 73 75, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 75 70 70 75

291 Darren Clarke 72 72 74 73, Simon Wakefield 72 71 73 75

292 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 73 74 74, Benn Barham 74 71 75 72

294 Phillip Price 73 71 75 75, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 73 73 76

295 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 70 72 80, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 75 68 76 76