Australian Scott Strange admitted his second European Tour victory was laden with emotion following a one-shot triumph in the Volvo China Open today.

Strange - advised at 66-1 pre-tournament by our tipster Matt Cooper - fired a four-under-par final round of 68 at Beijing CBD International GC to finish eight under, one stroke ahead of Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and two clear of overnight leader Richard Finch, Ashley Hall and Mark Brown.

The 32-year-old broke his European duck at the Celtic Manor Wales Open last June while playing under great emotional stress with his sister Natalie battling cervical cancer.

It was a fight she was to lose shortly afterwards and, understandably, golf took a back seat.

But victory in the Chinese capital has gone some way to helping the healing process.

"It means a lot," Strange said. "It means I'm still there, I'm still me and even though my sister's not here, I'm still here and I'm still playing golf.

"I lost that for six months straight after Wales so to do this now, it's put the ship back on course.

"My win in Wales will always mean a lot to me with what was going on with our family and my sister and stuff.

"This win is just as special, it's always nice to prove you can win again. I'm pretty sure my family will be pretty happy and if my sister were still here now, she'd be pretty proud of me now.

"You're going to heal in different ways and it takes time. You're going to have moments, I had one in Dubai and I was in tears. It's not nice losing loved ones, the wound's still fresh but it's getting better and better each day."

Strange began the day four behind Finch but birdies at the fifth and eighth saw him reach the turn in two under.

A bogey at the 12th proved a temporary setback as birdies at the 14th, 15th and 17th

ultimately sealed the golden jacket and a place at the Volvo World Matchplay in Malaga in September.

"It's always nice to get little rewards for winning," he added. "Every golfer works so hard and you very rarely get success unless you're Tiger Woods.

"Most golfers get very little reward for what they put in so when you win and you get a little added bonus on top, it's a fantastic thing to put in your back pocket."

Strange also revealed he had no idea that he was leading until he parred the last.

"I had a peek on the board on 12 and I knew there was a log jam there. I didn't really know if I'd won when I holed that putt at the last," he said.

"I made birdie on 17 and sort of had an idea that I was amongst it. Then I holed that putt at the last and I said to David Dixon 'Where am I?' and he said 'You're leading by two' and I went 'Oh, thanks'."

Fernandez-Castano needed a birdie at the last to claim a second consecutive runners-up spot following a final round of 72.

"It's good finishing second two weeks in a row but it was a shame because today I played the worst of the four days but I hung in there," he said.

"My putting was quite poor on the first 12 holes and by the end of the round I felt like it was getting there but it was a bit too late. It's difficult to win tournaments shooting level par in the last round."

Finch, meanwhile, was left to rue three bogeys on his outward nine as he carded a closing 74.

"I'm a little disappointed, 74's not the final round I was looking for at all," Finch admitted.

"The positives are that I played the long game really well, I was delighted with how I struck the ball and gave myself plenty of chances for birdies but just didn't convert really.

"I think I was guilty of trying too hard, trying to think of my technique and change that. I just didn't quite get my eye in like I did yesterday but you've just got to take it on the chin so that's that."

Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Volvo China Open, Beijing CBD International GC, Beijing, China

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

280 Scott Strange (Aus) 70 73 69 68

281 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 71 70 68 72

282 Richard Finch 71 71 66 74, Mark Brown (USA) 71 77 65 69, Ashley Hall (Aus) 75 71 65 71

283 Stephen Dodd 74 71 70 68, David Dixon 72 73 67 71

284 Markus Brier (Aut) 67 73 71 73, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 69 71 72 72, Paul McGinley 74 67 75 68

285 Andrew Coltart 74 73 72 66, Kurt Barnes (Aus) 76 70 73 66, Simon Dyson 69 73 70 73, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 73 71 72 69, Graeme Storm 72 71 70 72

286 Aaron Townsend (Aus) 73 71 70 72, Ho-sung Choi (Kor) 70 68 75 73, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 73 71 70

287 Pablo Martin (Spa) 75 73 71 68

288 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 72 72 72 72, David McKenzie (Aus) 68 74 71 75, Gareth Maybin 76 70 70 72, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 75 71 72, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 74 73 70 71

289 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 73 72 75 69, Colin Montgomerie 73 73 70 73, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 72 73 72 72, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 72 74 70 73, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 73 73 74 69

290 Craig Scott (Aus) 71 74 73 72, Inder Van Weerelt (Ned) 74 69 74 73, Kyung-nam Kang (Kor) 76 70 73 71

291 Brett Rumford (Aus) 74 72 74 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 73 73 71 74, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 76 70 75 70, Scott Drummond 75 70 71 75, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 72 75 72 72

292 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 71 77 70 74, Ki joon Song (Aus) 71 75 71 75, Damien McGrane 72 74 78 68, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 74 76 71, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 75 71 76 70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 74 72 72 74, Kyong-jun Moon (Kor) 73 74 73 72, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 75 73 73 71, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 74 72 73 73, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 75 74 72

293 Richard Bland 76 71 72 74, Chris Wood 72 74 73 74, David Gleeson (Aus) 74 73 69 77, Chris Gaunt (Aus) 74 74 72 73, Nick Dougherty 68 79 71 75, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 74 74 72 73, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 76 71 77 69, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 70 74 74 75, Matthew Millar (Aus) 70 77 72 74

294 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 73 73 75 73, Wil Besseling (Ned) 72 76 74 72, A-Shun Wu (Chn) 74 72 74 74, Paul Waring 72 76 73 73, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 74 72 75 73

295 Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 73 75 72 75, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 76 71 75 73, Miles Tunnicliff 74 74 69 78, Jae Hoon Jung (Kor) 75 71 76 73, Simon Wakefield 76 69 73 77

296 Won-Kyoung Heo (Kor) 72 72 75 77, Michael Long (Nzl) 73 75 74 74, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 72 73 74 77

298 Rafael Echenique (Arg) 72 74 76 76

300 Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 73 74 78 75

303 Wi-joong Kim (Kor) 75 72 80 76

310 Jun Zhou (Chn) 76 72 86 76