David Dixon shot a sublime five-under-par 66 to come from way back to clinch victory in the St Omer Open.

Having started the day on level par, the Englishman fired four consecutive birdies from the seventh hole and then another at the par-five 14th to snatch victory, finishing one shot ahead of overnight leader Christian Nilsson.

Dixon's passage to the top of the leaderboard was aided by slip-ups from the Swede, who was two shots clear going into today and whose level-par 71 proved insufficient.

Nilsson equalled the course record on the second day with a seven-under 64, but hit three bogeys on the back nine today as the pressure increased.

He needed to chip in on the 18th to force a play-off but fell just short, handing Dixon an unlikely win.

The 31-year-old shot a six-over 77 on the first day but stormed back into contention with 67 and 69 before today's dramatic finish.

"I played very well and I was very calm on the last few holes which was surprising," said an overwhelmed Dixon after his maiden European Tour triumph.

"I hit it close all day but at the start I wasn't making the putts. But then they started to roll in for that run of birdies and I holed some good ones on the last few holes.

"It's going to take a while to sink in. I didn't think about (winning) today and didn't let those thoughts enter my mind on the course which helped.

"Yes it's a small event but a win's a win and for me it's massive."

Steven O'Hara finished in third place on three under after seven birdies and four bogeys gave him a three-under 69, while Seve Benson, Richard Bland and Francois Delamontagne tied for fourth on two under.

Englishman Robert Coles, who was two shots off the the lead going into the final round, failed to make the most of his position and shot a one-over 72 to finish joint seventh on one under alongside Roope Kakko and David Drysdale.

Dixon's win gives him exemption to the European Tour until the end of 2009, as well as 100,000 euros and a place at the HSBC Champions.

Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Open de Saint Omer, Saint Omer, Saint Omer GC, St Omer, France

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

279 David Dixon 77 67 69 66

280 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 75 64 70 71

281 Steven O'Hara 74 69 70 68

282 Richard Bland 78 69 67 68, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 72 72 67 71, Seve Benson 71 72 72 67

283 Roope Kakko (Fin) 68 74 72 69, David Drysdale 78 66 72 67, Robert Coles 74 71 66 72

284 John E Morgan 69 72 73 70, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 69 73 73 69

285 Marco Ruiz (Par) 74 68 75 68, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 70 73 72 70

286 Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 74 69 69 74, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 73 72 72 69

287 Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 71 75 69 72, Robert Rock 75 70 71 71, Cesar Monasterio (Arg) 71 73 70 73, Michael Hoey 73 72 72 70

288 Eric Ramsay 70 73 74 71, Matthew Cort 75 70 76 67

289 Chris Gane 74 71 73 71, Iain Pyman 74 72 71 72, Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 76 71 72 70, David Griffiths 72 73 74 70, Benjamin Miarka (Ger) 75 72 70 72, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 73 73 72 71

290 Wil Besseling (Ned) 78 68 70 74, Juan Abbate (Arg) 76 71 70 73, Richard Treis (Ger) 73 71 70 76, Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 75 72 68 75, Richard McEvoy 76 70 73 71, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 73 70 75 72, Marco Soffietti (Ita) 72 70 75 73

291 Liam Bond 73 69 70 79, Scott Barr (Aus) 73 71 72 75, Mark f Haastrup (Den) 74 69 75 73, Andrew Coltart 73 73 75 70, Ben Mason 71 74 72 74, Edward Rush 74 72 73 72

292 Steve Alker (Nzl) 74 72 72 74, Marcus Higley 69 75 71 77, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 70 76 71 75, Christophe Brazillier (Fra) 72 71 80 69, Lawrence Dodd 71 74 74 73

293 Alvaro Salto (Spa) 71 74 74 74, Andreas Hogberg (Swe) 75 72 74 72, Gareth Maybin 70 72 77 74, David Bransdon (Aus) 72 73 75 73, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 73 72 76 72, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 75 69 75 74

294 Colm Moriarty 75 72 74 73, Anders Schmidt Hansen (Den) 73 74 73 74, Tim Dykes 77 69 78 70, Ian Garbutt 74 71 72 77

295 Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 76 68 73 78, Sion Bebb 73 70 73 , Julien Quesne (Fra) 71 75 71 78, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 72 75 76 72, Olivier David (Fra) 76 69 75 75, Julien Xanthopoulos (Fra) 75 70 75 75, Jordi Garcia (Spa) 76 70 78 71, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 74 71 76 74, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 77 70 73 75

297 Matthew King (Aus) 73 74 75 75, Kyron Sullivan 72 73 73 79, Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arg) 75 71 74 77, Thomas Feyrsinger (Aut) 71 74 75 77, Toni Karjalainen (Fin) 73 74 73 77

298 Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 75 67 78 78, Alessio Bruschi (Ita) 76 71 75 76, David Higgins 74 73 76 75, James Morrison 75 72 74 77

299 Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 75 71 74 79

301 Francois Calmels (Fra) 81 66 76 78