England's Nick Dougherty, who this time last year had little desire to play golf, finally returned to winning ways in Munich on Sunday - and with it earned a place in next month's Open.

But what a scare the 27-year-old from Liverpool, so devastated by the sudden death of his mother straight after his US Masters debut 14 months ago, was given before he made the BMW International Open his third European Tour victory.

Four clear and seemingly coasting, the gap was suddenly cut to one when Argentina's Rafa Echenique sank a 243-yard three-iron on the last for only the fourth albatross of the Tour season.

Having eagled the 11th Echenique equalled the Tour record with his back nine of 27 - he actually played the last 10 holes in an amazing 10 under and finished with a round of 62 - but Dougherty kept his composure.

Three closing pars gave him a superb 64 for a 22-under-par total and after raising a hand to the skies he said: "The strength that my mum had lives on in me.

"I want to say thank you to all the people who have helped me through some tough times. I have a great team around me and it's great to be back where I feel I belong."

The win earned him nearly £283,000 and he qualifies for Turnberry off a mini-Order of Merit which has been running since the Italian Open at the start of last month.

On the moment when he saw what Echenique had done Dougherty added: "I thought 'Oh my goodness'. The 18th has been an absolute brute for me this week and I'm delighted to get the job done."

Long-time leader Retief Goosen finished third, but 51-year-old Bernhard Langer, hoping to become the oldest winner in Tour history in front of his home fans and only one behind after an opening birdie, fell back to ninth.

Echenique commented: "I've never had an albatross before and I had a great sensation. This is a dream for me - it's unbelievable."

Three behind at the start of the round, Dougherty kicked off with three straight birdies to draw level and after five holes was two in front.

Goosen did come back to sneak in front with a fine eagle on the long ninth, but Dougherty was back on terms with a birdie there and was never caught from the moment he began the back nine with a birdie to the double US Open champion's bogey.

Further birdies came at the 13th and 14th and from over the back of the next green he made a 20-footer for another - the one which proved the decisive blow in the end.

Rory McIlroy threatened to become part of the title battle when he had an eagle and three birdies around the turn to be up to fourth only three shots behind, but the 20-year-old slipped back to 15th.

Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie completed a full year without a single top-10 finish with a 76 that dropped him to joint 66th of the 71 players.

This coming week, however, he return to the French Open where he was runner-up to Spanish qualifier Pablo Larrazabal.

At least he left Germany with one good memory. His third round included an ace on the short eighth, thereby extending his own Tour record number of holes-in-one to nine.

Two Open spots were up for grabs and the other was taken by Swede Johan Edfors.

European Open champion Christian Cevaer, who began the week in second place in the table, missed the cut and was pushed out by Dougherty.

There are also places available at the French and Scottish Opens, however.

Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour BMW International Open, Golfclub Munchen Nord-Eichenreid, Munich, Germany

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72)

266 Nick Dougherty 69 65 68 64

267 Rafael Echenique (Arg) 68 69 68 62

270 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 64 68 67 71

271 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 70 66 66, David Drysdale 70 64 68 69, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 67 70 65, Graeme Storm 70 70 64 67

272 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 66 70 65

273 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 68 68 65 72, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 68 65 70 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 67 69 67 70, Richard Green (Aus) 71 68 68 66, Danny Willett 67 68 71 67, Thomas Levet (Fra) 68 67 70 68

274 Rory McIlroy 71 67 69 67

275 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 73 68 66 68, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 67 73 72 63, David Lynn 67 70 71 67

276 Peter Lawrie 69 68 70 69, Bradley Dredge 72 69 66 69

277 Anders Hansen (Den) 69 69 69 70, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 71 69 66 71, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 69 70 70 68, Paul Broadhurst 69 70 65 73, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 69 66 74 68

278 Gary Orr 70 70 67 71, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 67 70 70 71

279 Andrew Coltart 67 71 71 70, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 70 69 69 71

280 Chris Wood 71 69 71 69, Scott Strange (Aus) 70 68 70 72, John Bickerton 70 70 70 70, Oliver Fisher 68 69 71 72, Johan Edfors (Swe) 71 69 70 70

281 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 71 71 70, Marco Ruiz (Par) 73 67 68 73, Stephen Dodd 68 69 72 72, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 72 69 68 72, Markus Brier (Aut) 69 71 70 71, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 69 69 74, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 72 68 71 70, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 69 69 73 70, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 72 72 69

282 Max Kramer (Aut) 71 69 73 69, Steven O'Hara 71 70 70 71

283 Anthony Wall 74 66 70 73, Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 70 71 76 66, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 72 69 73 69, Phillip Price 67 72 69 75, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 67 74 73 69

284 Gary Lockerbie 72 68 69 75, Lee Slattery 70 70 72 72, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 68 71 71 74, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 67 71 71 75, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 70 71 69 74, Luke Donald 70 68 73 73, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 70 70 72 72

285 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 70 70 69 76, Richard Finch 66 71 73 75, Gareth Maybin 71 68 74 72, Kenneth Ferrie 69 72 73 71

286 Gary Murphy 71 70 72 73, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 69 71 74 72, Seve Benson 70 71 70 75

287 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 72 67 76 72

289 Colin Montgomerie 70 71 72 76, Phillip Archer 69 72 74 74, Scott Drummond 71 69 73 76

292 Michael Hoey 70 71 71 80

293 Barry Lane 68 73 78 74

297 Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 71 78 78