Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell claimed his second European Tour title of the season at the Barclays Scottish Open - and with it virtually sealed a Ryder Cup debut.

McDowell carded a final-round 68 at Loch Lomond to finish 13 under par, two shots ahead of South African James Kingston, with Australia's Richard Green and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez a shot further back in third.

The £500,000 first prize lifted the 28-year-old from Portrush from 10th to sixth in the Ryder Cup standings and only an extraordinary series of results can deny him a place in Nick Faldo's side to defend the trophy at Valhalla in September.

"I put the Ryder Cup up there with winning majors," said McDowell, winner of the Ballantine's Championship in Korea earlier in the season. "It's something I have really, really desperately wanted.

"I refused to be measured for my Ryder Cup clothes last week but maybe I will accept next time. It's never over till it's over of course but this is a massive step in the right direction. It will be a dream come true."

England's Simon Khan held a two-shot lead after 11 holes of the final round but double-bogeyed the 12th and 17th to finish fifth, but at least had the consolation of securing the final place on offer in the Open at Royal Birkdale.

Khan held his nerve to par the last with a superb chip from just off the green when a bogey would have handed the spot to Scotland's Stephen Gallacher, who closed with a superb 64.

McDowell and Khan began the day tied for the lead and were still locked together at the turn on 12 under par.

Khan then moved two shots clear after a birdie on the 11th followed McDowell's bogey on the 10th, but that lasted just one hole when the 36-year-old from Essex ran up a double bogey six on the 12th, needing two attempts to chip up a steep slope onto the the putting surface after his approach came up short of the green.

McDowell moved into the outright lead with a birdie on the 13th and after both players had birdied the short par-four 14th - McDowell two-putting after driving the green - the decisive moment came on the 15th.

Khan took a bogey five after pushing his drive into deep rough while McDowell hit a superb approach to three feet for birdie to open up a three-shot cushion.

"This is just unbelievable," McDowell added. "It really was a tough weekend's golf with such a stacked field. It's a massive relief. It's one of the toughest finishes in European golf and I don't think I've ever shook as much as I was coming down the stretch.

"I've never had a two-shot lead coming down the last hole and I much prefer it to the the stress and drama I normally put my mum (Marian) and dad (Kenny) through and it's great to have them here.

"My dad first put a club in my hand aged seven and he's been with me for 20 years, through thick and thin. He just retired last Friday. This is my retirement present to him. He's an emotional man and I'm sure there'll be a few tears tonight."

Khan admitted on Saturday he was desperate to qualify for the Open with his wife coming from Liverpool and with grandparents living in Lytham and St Annes, but added: "At this moment in time I feel pretty disappointed. But for a couple of tee shots I played lovely today and I had a couple of bad breaks.

"I was in a divot on the 12th so couldn't play a lob shot and didn't hit a bad shot on the 17th but had no stance in a bunker which had been filled with new sand.

"But congratulations to Graeme, he dug deep and found three birdies in a row when he needed them and deserved to win."

World number two Phil Mickelson could only manage a closing round of 73 to finish well off the pace on two under par while Ernie Els, twice a winner here, was joint ninth after a 69.

Collated final round scores & totals

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

271 Graeme McDowell 67 70 66 68

273 James Kingston (Rsa) 70 70 67 66

274 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 69 68 69, Richard Green (Aus) 67 68 70 69

275 Simon Khan 69 66 68 72

276 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 68 72 67, Stephen Gallacher 72 68 72 64, Robert Dinwiddie 68 68 71 69

277 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 68 69 72, Paul Lawrie 68 67 72 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 66 70 69, Oliver Wilson 71 66 71 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 70 74 64

278 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 67 70 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 67 71 71 69, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 70 68 72 68, Oliver Fisher 68 69 70 71, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 70 70 69 69

279 Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 67 69 73, Anthony Wall 70 70 69 70, Rory McIlroy 70 69 68 72, Damien McGrane 68 66 76 69, Gary Murphy 68 70 72 69, Lee Westwood 67 69 70 73

280 Ross Fisher 68 69 68 75, Adam Scott (Aus) 72 66 68 74, David Lynn 69 67 70 74, John Bickerton 66 71 72 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 64 71 71 74, Ian Poulter 69 69 68 74, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 72 65 71 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 70 72 69

281 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 71 69 71 70, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 67 70 77 67, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 68 70 74 69, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 67 69 72 73, Simon Wakefield 71 68 72 70

282 Phil Mickelson (USA) 71 67 71 73, Alexander Noren (Swe) 64 73 71 74, David Howell 69 70 70 73, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 73 66 74 69, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 65 68 78 71, Mark Brown (USA) 73 66 71 72

283 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 67 68 75 73, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 67 71 72, Mark Foster 68 70 73 72, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 69 70 73 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 67 71 76 69

284 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 67 70 76 71, Andres Romero (Arg) 68 71 75 70

285 Garry Houston 66 71 74 74, Andrew Oldcorn 71 69 72 73, Alastair Forsyth 73 67 72 73, Matthew Millar (Aus) 72 64 77 72, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 68 72 75, Paul McGinley 70 70 72 73, Ross McGowan 69 70 74 72

287 David Dixon 68 70 75 74, Tom Whitehouse 68 71 75 73, Peter Lawrie 71 68 77 71

288 David Drysdale 68 71 74 75, Scott Strange (Aus) 70 68 77 73

289 Iain Pyman 69 71 76 73, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 69 70 75 75

292 Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 70 68 75 79