Rising English star Oliver Fisher lost a golden opportunity to become the European Tour's fifth youngest winner in history.

Three ahead with six holes to play and still two in front on the 17th tee, the 19-year-old from Essex lost a play-off to French Ryder Cup player Thomas Levet in a dramatic climax to the Andalucian Open in Spain.

After Levet sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the short 17th Fisher's adrenalin-fuelled three iron tee shot in the swirling wind ran through the final fairway into water.

Bogeying the hole - and that after Levet's greenside bunker shot had hit the cup - meant they were both round in 67s for 16-under-par totals of 272.

Returning to the same tee Fisher not surprisingly took a four iron, but pushed into a bunker and bogeyed again to lose.

Long-time leader and defending champion Lee Westwood was third three shots back, having played his last 11 holes in a disappointing three over par.

Fisher, in his second full season as a professional and ranked 290th in the world, said: "I would have loved to win, but I am sure there will be more chances.

"On the final hole I just turned it over a little bit and it pitched 15 to 20 yards short of the water. As soon as you get it going on the wind it goes miles.

"The second time was always going to be a little hard after doing that.

"But I was pretty happy with my week. I got myself into contention and played pretty nicely.

"You learn from your mistakes - you have to learn to lose before you learn to win almost. It was disappointing, but never mind."

He had never finished higher than ninth in his 42 previous Tour events, but having stormed from five behind Westwood 10 holes into the third round to three in front so near to the end it was a big letdown.

For Levet a first win for four years came with a cheque of almost £130,000 - and completed his comeback from an horrendous time in 2006 and early 2007 when he feared a serious bout of vertigo might end his career.

He stopped playing for several months and described it graphically: "Imagine being in a car that is spinning for 45 minutes - or a hamster spinning on its wheel, except I'm not the hamster, I'm the wheel."

Being sprayed with champagne by fellow French players as he lay on the ground was a scene the 39-year-old from Paris certainly thought he might not experience again.

Westwood, leading the Ryder Cup points race and eager to win his final tournament before the Masters, birdied four of the first six holes and that after starting his third round with five in a row.

But Fisher matched that to remain only one behind, levelled with a seven-footer at the 349-yard seventh and then saw Westwood bogey the next two.

Out in 31, the former Faldo Junior Series and Junior Ryder Cup winner stretched his lead to three with a chip to six feet on the long 10th.

Bogeys at the 13th and 14th suggested he was feeling the pressure, his response was to hit his approach to the 399-yard 15th to three feet for his seventh birdie.

He nearly eagled the 526-yard 16th after another glorious iron, but Levet matched his birdie and from then on it all went his way.

Westwood was asked if he felt sorry for his fellow Englishman.

"No," he replied. "If he wants sympathy off his playing partners he is in the wrong game."

As for his own performance the world number 20 added: "The eighth and ninth really took the wind out of my sails and on the back nine I couldn't really get it close."

Jose Maria Olazabal's first event for seven months ended with him in 61st place - he had been delighted to make the cut - while Welshman Bradley Dredge failed in his bid for the victory he needed to climb into the world's top 50 just in time to claim a Masters place. He was 25th after a closing 75.

Levet, who in 2002 lost a play-off for The Open to Ernie Els, said of his recovery from illness: "I was just happy to be standing up. When you play the Ryder Cup two years before and then are trying to keep your card it's a low goal, but when you see what I've been through it's a tough goal.

"Now I've got a card for at least the next two years. It was an unbelievable battle today and it just shows you that it's never over until it's over. We've seen it so many times."

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

272 Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 68 68 67(Thomas Levet won on the first play-off hole), Oliver Fisher 70 68 67 67

275 Lee Westwood 65 73 66 71

276 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 70 69 68 69, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 70 68 69

278 Robert Dinwiddie 72 65 75 66, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 69 69 69 71

279 Markus Brier (Aut) 71 72 66 70, David Lynn 70 67 68 74

280 Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 73 69 70 68, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 72 72 71 65

281 Matthew Millar (Aus) 67 69 72 73, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 72 70 68, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 69 71 71, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 67 70 75

282 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 70 76 68, Ariel Canete (Arg) 70 73 72 67, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 68 72 71 71

283 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 67 69 73, Joost Luiten (Ned) 74 65 72 72, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 70 68 69 76, Danny Willett 66 75 72 70, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 72 70 69, Peter Lawrie 72 72 70 69

284 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 68 71 74 71, Alastair Forsyth 70 70 70 74, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 73 71 71 69, David Frost (Rsa) 72 70 68 74, Simon Dyson 71 68 74 71, Pablo Martin (Spa) 70 70 74 70, Bradley Dredge 70 68 71 75

285 Anthony Wall 72 71 74 68, Damien McGrane 68 72 71 74, Stephen Gallacher 74 68 74 69, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 74 68 73, Paul Lawrie 78 66 73 68, Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 71 71 71 72, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 74 69 70 72

286 Richard Bland 70 71 72 73, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 73 69 72 72, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 72 70 74 70, Rory McIlroy 68 73 71 74, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 71 73 73 69, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 73 71 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 71 71 70 74

287 Lee Slattery 72 68 72 75, Garry Houston 75 69 75 68, David Griffiths 71 71 69 76

288 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 69 72 74 73, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 66 72 76 74, Peter Whiteford 73 69 75 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 74 72 73, John Bickerton 72 71 73 72

289 Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 71 72 74, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 74 68 75 72, Sion Bebb 73 69 76 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 71 71 69 78, Jamie Donaldson 70 70 75 74, Phillip Archer 72 72 72 73, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 73 71 74 71

290 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 71 72 71 76, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 73 69 72 76, Gary Orr 71 72 76 71

291 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 74 69 74 74

292 Carl Suneson (Spa) 69 70 76 77, Florian Praegant (Aut) 69 73 72 78

294 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 74 70 80 70

296 Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 74 70 69 83

297 Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 73 71 76 77