Swede Peter Hedblom breathed a huge sigh of relief at Gleneagles after winning the Johnnie Walker Championship.

The 39-year-old's ecstasy was not just that he had grabbed only his third European Tour victory in 364 starts, but also that he did not need a play-off.

Four times Hedblom has gone into sudden death in his career and four times he has lost - the most recent of them last Sunday in Holland when England's Simon Dyson sank an 18-foot birdie putt.

On this occasion, though, a five-under-par round of 67 gave the former Malaysian and Moroccan Open champion his first success actually on European soil.

Hedblom beat compatriot Martin Erlandsson by one after Erlandsson, joint 20th overnight, had set the clubhouse target with an astonishing 62, the lowest round of his life.

After a magical nine birdies in his first 12 holes the world number 365, who last week closed the KLM Open with a course record-equalling 63, had moved from six behind to two in front.

Erlandsson, taking his mind off the search for his first Tour win by studying his thumb of all things, added another birdie on the short 17th.

His round would have counted as another course record but for the fact that placing of the ball was allowed all week on the wet fairways.

By then, however, Hedblom had reeled off four birdies in a row around the turn as well, but he then failed to get up and down from rough left of the 15th green.

So one more birdie was needed and it came with a superb pitch to four feet on the long 16th. Then two closing pars - not easy on bumpy greens he reckoned to be the worst of the year - gave him the £233,330 first prize with a 13-under total of 275.

Defending champion Gregory Havret and Scotland's former Open champion Paul Lawrie shared third place.

Hedblom said: "That was so tough. I thought last week was, but this was harder.

"I had to dig down so deep, but I am so happy. What a round Martin played - I couldn't believe it and he should have won.

"I just had to plug on. I hit a great shot into 16, but making two pars was even harder.

"This year has been unbelievable. I played so poorly (not a single top-30 finish) until last week.

"I want to play in the big tournaments, but I keep taking one step back. Hopefully this is two steps forward."

Erlandsson, whose seven successive birdies from the sixth was a Tour best for the season and only one short of the all-time record, has had chances to win before and admits he has struggled with the mental side.

As a result his psychologist, a former international hurdler, advised turning his mind to other things when under pressure.

"I was looking at my thumb and wondering how it looked," he said. "I was also trying to look at a tree or somebody in the audience to keep my mind at peace."

It did not bring him victory, but from 135th on the European money list his Tour card is now safe for another season.

Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal finished down in 31st place and Montgomerie then announced that, because of fatigue, he was withdrawing from next week's European Masters in Switzerland.

That is the first counting event for his Ryder Cup side and he says he will be watching "avidly".

Collated final round scores & totals in the European tour Johnnie Walker Championships at Gleneagles, The Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire, Scotland

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

275 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 68 68 67

276 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 74 70 70 62

278 Paul Lawrie 67 69 73 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 68 76 67 67

279 Gary Orr 73 71 71 64

280 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 69 70 72 69, Jamie Donaldson 69 71 70 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 69 71 70, Steven O'Hara 68 76 66 70

282 Danny Lee (Nzl) 71 70 72 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 70 71 72, David Lynn 76 68 71 67, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 69 71 70

283 Damien McGrane 72 72 71 68, Graeme Storm 69 74 70 70

284 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 70 71 71 72, David Carter 74 70 70 70, Gary Murphy 73 69 73 69

285 Richard Bland 72 72 67 74, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 73 69 70 73, Danny Willett 69 71 73 72, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 69 69 74 73, David Dixon 76 68 74 67, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 72 70 70 73, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 69 72 74, Christopher Doak 72 72 74 67

286 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 72 70 72 72, John E Morgan 70 71 78 67, Oliver Wilson 73 68 74 71, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 72 71 75 68

287 Jonathan Caldwell 72 66 76 73, Anthony Wall 69 75 72 71, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 71 68 77 71, Richie Ramsay 71 73 74 69, Colin Montgomerie 76 68 72 71, Bradley Dredge 75 67 73 72

288 Richard Finch 73 70 75 70, Maarten Lafeber (NIrl) 71 67 73 77, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 72 72 74, Ross McGowan 74 68 74 72

289 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 72 76 70

290 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 70 72 76 72, Alan McLean 69 73 74 74, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 70 70 76 74

291 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 69 75 73 74, Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 72 69 77 73, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 73 71 75 72, Ake Nilsson (Swe) 68 73 78 72, Inder Van Weerelt (NIrl) 73 71 76 71, Simon Khan 70 72 76 73

292 Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 72 70 74 76, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 71 76 74, Stephen Dodd 73 70 76 73, Scott Arnold (Aus) 71 72 80 69, Michael Curtain (Aus) 72 70 75 75

293 Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 74 74 76, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 71 71 78 73, Simon Dyson 76 68 75 74

294 Gareth Maybin 69 73 78 74, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 68 73 78 75

295 Phillip Archer 71 69 76 79, Pablo Martin (Spa) 72 71 71 81

296 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 73 74 79

301 Gary Lockerbie 72 72 79 78

302 Wil Besseling (NIrl) 73 70 84 75