Scotland's Alastair Forsyth came from five behind to beat South African Hennie Otto at the first hole of a play-off for the Madeira Islands Open on Sunday.

The 32-year-old from Glasgow, who did not make a single halfway cut in his first five starts of the year, fired a closing 67 to take full advantage of Otto's worst round of the week.

Seeking his first European title - he was not even the holder of a full Tour card entering the tournament - Otto followed three opening rounds of 67 with only a level-par 72.

Forsyth, whose one previous victory came after a play-off with Australian Stephen Leaney in Malaysia six years ago, could have taken the first prize of almost £90,000 without the need for sudden death.

Seven birdies and two bogeys in his first 14 holes put him one ahead, but he bogeyed the short 17th and then both he and Otto birdied the 386-yard 18th to tie on the 15-under-par mark of 273, four clear of England's Gary Clark.

For Forsyth it was the fourth time out of four that he had birdied the final hole during the tournament - and he then made it five out of five to capture the trophy.

Clark was the other member of the final group and his closing birdie was important too, putting him third on his own at 11 under. The 36-year-old Londoner's best-ever finish on the circuit earned him £33,693.

Welshman Bradley Dredge, needing to win to move back into the world's top 50 a week before the cut-off for the Masters, finished only joint 15th.

That means Dredge probably has to take the Andalucian Open title at Aloha in Spain next Sunday to earn a return trip to Augusta, where he was only three off the lead with a round to play last year.

Forsyth, pipped by Ian Poulter for the Tour's Rookie of the Year award in 2000, had had 23 top-10 finishes since his first win, but this was the perfect way to put his nightmare start to 2008 behind him. He returned home from events in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Dubai, India and Malaysia without having picked up a single penny.

Collated final round scores & totals in the European tour Madeira Island Open BPI, Santo da Serra, Madeira, Portugal

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

273 Alastair Forsyth 70 70 66 67(won at first play off hole), Hennie Otto (Rsa) 67 67 67 72

277 Gary Clark 72 71 64 70

278 Sven Struver (Ger) 66 72 71 69

279 Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 73 70 68 68, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 68 70 70 71, John Bickerton 69 72 68 70

280 Gary Orr 72 70 67 71

281 Martin Wiegele (Aut) 73 71 68 69

282 Ben Evans 74 72 70 66, Matthew Millar (Aus) 75 70 68 69, Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 71 75 67 69, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 68 73 73 68, Peter Lawrie 75 69 69 69

283 Sion Bebb 71 74 68 70, Raphael Eyraud (Fra) 70 71 74 68, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 70 75 69 69, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 71 68 70 74, Benn Barham 74 72 68 69, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 74 71 67, Miles Tunnicliff 71 69 71 72, Bradley Dredge 70 75 69 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 73 70 71 69

284 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 68 71 69 76, Peter Whiteford 70 75 71 68, Santiago Luna (Spa) 73 74 68 69

285 Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 72 70 73, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 73 70 71, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 74 72 69 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 68 76 71 70

286 Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 72 70 72 72, Andrew Coltart 74 71 72 69, Hugo Santos (Por) 72 71 71 72

287 George Murray 73 74 68 72, Andrew Oldcorn 71 71 69 76, Paul Waring 75 73 70 69, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 72 72 70 73

288 Gary Lockerbie 71 74 69 74, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 74 71 73 70, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 72 74 72 70, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 73 73 73 69

289 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 76 70 70 73, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 79 68 70 72, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 70 76 67 76, Iain Pyman 76 72 69 72, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 71 73 74 71, Marcus Higley 74 72 74 69, Tom Whitehouse 72 76 73 68, Ariel Canete (Arg) 74 73 70 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 76 70 71

290 Steve Alker (Nzl) 76 70 75 69, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 76 71 72 71, Robert Coles 76 70 70 74, Ben Mason 73 74 73 70

291 Gabriel Canizares (Spa) 73 72 72 74, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 72 75 70 74, Andrew McArthur 75 72 72 72, Ian Garbutt 75 73 71 72

292 Juan Abbate (Arg) 74 70 75 73

293 Nuno Campino (Por) 75 70 71 77, Alan McLean 72 72 73 76, Tim Dykes 72 74 74 73, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 71 77 74 71, Simon Wakefield 74 73 71 75

294 Lee Slattery 74 73 72 75, Notah Begay III (USA) 71 74 73 76, Philip Golding 75 73 73 73

295 Liam Bond 72 71 76 76

296 Jamie McLeary 72 74 70 80

297 Ricardo Santos (Por) 73 75 77 72

301 Matthew King (Aus) 69 76 79 77