Arjun Atwal was delighted to taste victory for the first time in five years after his playoff triumph over defending champion Peter Hedblom at the Maybank Malaysian Open.

Atwal began the day seven shots behind overnight leader Hedblom but fired a superb eight-under-par 64 in a weather-interrupted final round at Kota Permai Golf and Country Club to draw level with the Swede on 18 under.

The two players squared the first play-off hole with pars but after Hedblom three-putted from 40 feet for bogey at the second extra hole, the par-three 17th, Atwal coolly sank a four-foot par putt to regain the title that he first won in 2003.

"It hasn't sunk in yet. Right now I'm in a different world," Atwal said.

"I've been playing pretty solid the last four weeks but it's been the same thing. I've been in the top-15 and haven't been able to get up leaderboard in the last few weeks."

Atwal raced into contention with eight birdies through his first 15 holes before play was suspended for two hours and 20 minutes in mid-afternoon due to a thunderstorm.

The 34-year-old from Calcutta parred the 16th and 17th before holing a clutch 12-foot birdie putt at the last to take the clubhouse lead on 18 under.

"Today, I kind of relaxed right on the first hole and chilled out and never thought of making a score and started making birdies," Atwal added.

"By the time I birdied 10 and 11, I looked at the leaderboard and knew I had a chance."

Hedblom had a chance to win the tournament in regulation but saw his birdie putt at the 18th stop right on the lip of the cup as he finished with a one-under 71.

"That putt on the 18th was in but how it didn't drop, I don't know," said Hedblom, who has yet to win a play-off on the European Tour in three attempts.

"It just hung on the edge. That was sad.

"It was a good defence. You are never happy when you lose and I thought I had a good chance to win.

"But I am proud of myself for the way I defended my title because I holed some great putts under pressure."

Simon Dyson led the tournament for much of the day after birdies at five of his first 12 holes but three-putted for bogey at the 16th to drop back to 17 under.

The Yorkshireman had an opportunity to join the play-off but missed his birdie attempt at the final hole for a 69 to finish in a tie for third with Webber, who shot a 66 in the final round.

Dyson felt that the long stoppage halted his momentum.

"That break killed me. I could have won if we carried on," said the 30-year-old.

"Still there are plenty of positives to take on this week. I've been playing good and finally found a putter that I love.

"I rolled it better than I have all year, or for the last two years to be honest. Hopefully, I can ride on this."

Francesco Molinari was alone in fifth on 16-under with David Lynn, Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, Jyoti Randhawa of India and Daniel Vancsik of Argentina a further stroke behind.

Darren Clarke was in good shape after moving to within a stroke of the lead with a run of three consecutive birdies at the start of the back nine.

But the Ulsterman bogeyed the 15th after he came up short with his approach and bogeys at the 17th and 18th and the stoppage saw him finish in a share of 10th place on 14 under with Sweden's Johan Edfors.

"It's disappointing - I didn't play as well on the back nine as on the front nine," Clarke said.

"I had lots of chances and played well enough to be at the top of the leaderboard but unfortunately, I'm not."

Collated final-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

270 Arjun Atwal (Ind) 70 68 68 64 (Atwal won on second play off hole), Peter Hedblom (Swe) 66 68 65 71

271 Simon Dyson 64 71 67 69, Kane Webber (USA) 67 71 68 65

272 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 67 69 71 65

273 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 65 72 64 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 66 67 69, David Lynn 70 68 70 65, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 67 65 70 71

274 Darren Clarke 69 68 67 70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 72 68 69 65

275 Scott Barr (Aus) 68 68 68 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 65 72 72 66, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 66 69 71 69, Graeme Storm 69 68 70 68, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 64 72 72 67

276 Gary Murphy 70 67 73 66, Graeme McDowell 66 68 71 71, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 67 70 70 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 68 69 69 70

277 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 65 68 69 75, Nick Dougherty 62 70 72 73, Scott Strange (Aus) 66 71 72 68, David Frost (Rsa) 70 67 70 70, Peter Lawrie 69 67 72 69

278 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 70 70 67 71, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 66 69 72 71, Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi) 69 71 73 65, Scott Drummond 72 66 72 68, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 68 68 74 68, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 69 70 68, Mark Brown (USA) 66 73 70 69

279 Anton Haig (Rsa) 68 71 70 70, Iain Steel (Mal) 70 69 72 68, Richard Lee (Nzl) 70 70 70 69, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 72 65 70 72

280 Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 67 71 72 70, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 69 67 71 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 67 73 68, Sam Little 73 67 68 72

281 Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 71 69 69 72, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 71 68 72 70, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 69 71 72, Danny Chia (Mal) 65 67 80 69, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 68 67 76 70

282 Bryan Saltus (USA) 67 71 71 73, Ter-Chang Wang (Tpe) 70 68 73 71, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 67 73 70 72, Angelo Que (Phi) 69 71 71 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 70 72 70, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 66 73 69 74

283 Anthony Kang (USA) 70 70 72 71, Young-Woo Nam (Kor) 69 69 75 70, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 68 72 72 71, Oliver Wilson 66 71 73 73, Shaaban Hussein (Mal) 69 71 70 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 68 70 75

284 Simon Wakefield 69 69 72 74

285 Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 71 68 74 72, Oliver Fisher 68 71 72 74

286 Zane Scotland (Gbr) 69 69 74 74, Zaw Moe (Kor) 72 68 70 76

288 S Murthy (Mal) 71 67 76 74, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 69 71 76 72, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 67 74 77, Simon Yates 69 71 74 74

290 Marcus Both (Aus) 67 72 75 76, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 66 68 78 78

298 Yasin Ali 73 67 82 76