Sweden's Michael Jonzon is living proof that in golf it takes just one week to make it a great year.

Without a single top 10 finish since December and needing to come first or second to keep his European Tour card, Jonzon won the Castello Masters in Spain with a closing 18-foot birdie putt.

The nerves were there for all to see as the burly 37-year-old, 158th on the money list and needing to climb into the top 115, lost his grip on the tournament by double-bogeying the 15th and dropping another shot at the 17th.

Martin Kaymer, six behind with five to play, was suddenly level when he birdied the 14th, 16th and 17th - and Jonzon's fellow countryman Christian Nilsson was 19 under par as well in the clubhouse.

When Kaymer then hit his approach to the 428-yard last to nine feet the 24-year-old German looked favourite for a victory that would take him back to the top of the Order of Merit - and this despite him limping all week in his first event since breaking toes in a go-kart crash in August.

But Jonzon, 482nd in the world and playing with 10th-ranked Sergio Garcia and 12th-ranked Kaymer, holed from twice as far, Kaymer missed and it was all over.

"I'm on the moon," said Jonzon, whose only previous success in 290 tour starts was the 1997 Portuguese Open.

"It's been desperate for me and I am kind of speechless at the moment. It's unbelievable."

The first prize of just over £308,000 was more than four times his previous biggest cheque in a career that goes back 16 years and includes eight trips to the qualifying school.

"It's going to take time to let this sink in, I guess," he added.

"I'm just so thrilled to have a playing status for next year and I'm so proud of myself the way I handled these days."

One ahead overnight, he lost the lead when defending champion Garcia opened with back-to-back birdies, but the Spanish star is still looking for his first top-three finish of the year after falling back to fourth on his home course.

Jonzon grabbed an eagle and three birdies to turn in 31 and seemed to be coasting when he birdied the long 13th while Nilsson followed six successive birdies with a bogey six there and Kaymer ran up a seven on the same hole.

But getting the job done proved anything but easy.

Jonzon, round in 67 for a 20-under aggregate of 264, is now up to 65th on the money list - and not only has a two-year tour exemption but will also qualify for the season-ending Dubai World Championship next month if he climbs five more spots.

England's Sam Hutsby, playing just his third European Tour event since turning professional after the Walker Cup last month, shared the lead when he holed his approach to the first.

But the 20-year-old from Hampshire double-bogeyed the second and seventh before rallying for a tie for eighth.

Darren Clarke and former Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart - still fighting for his tour card - were among those alongside him, while Colin Montgomerie was tied for 12th and missed out on his first top 10 since June last year by a single stroke.

Collated final round scores from the European Tour's Castello Masters Costa Azahar at Club de Campo del Mediterraneo in Castellon, Spain (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

264 Michael Jonzon (Swe) 64 68 65 67

265 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 69 66 65 65, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 63 67 68 67

267 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 63 68 67 69

268 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 67 64 66

269 Robert Allenby (Aus) 64 66 71 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 68 65 66

270 Sam Hutsby 65 68 66 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 68 66 70, Andrew Coltart 70 64 69 67, Darren Clarke 68 70 67 65

271 Colin Montgomerie 70 69 64 68, Jamie Donaldson 71 67 65 68

272 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 65 67 70 70, Anthony Wall 68 67 69 68, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 67 65 70 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 70 67 69 66

273 David Drysdale 68 68 66 71, David Horsey 67 71 70 65, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 71 70 68 64

274 Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 68 71 69 66, John E Morgan 66 68 72 68, Richie Ramsay 71 69 68 66, Oliver Fisher 68 69 71 66

275 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 66 68 70, Benn Barham 68 66 70 71, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 70 66 70 69, Branden Grace (Rsa) 74 64 68 69, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 62 72 71, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 65 72 68 70, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 65 69 73 68, Miles Tunnicliff 67 67 72 69

276 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 72 67 68 69, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 69 70 68, Marc Warren 72 65 70 69, Robert Dinwiddie 69 70 67 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 68 70 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 68 66 70, Bradley Dredge 70 69 68 69

277 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 69 70 68 70, Richard Bland 70 69 68 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 70 68 71, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 67 73 68 69, Justin Rose 68 71 66 72, Paul Lawrie 70 69 71 67, Alfredo Garcia-heredia (Spa) 73 68 67 69, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 69 71 71 66

278 Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 69 68 71, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 70 67 70, Danny Willett 71 66 68 73, Scott Drummond 70 66 70 72, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 70 69 69, Paul Broadhurst 70 64 75 69, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 71 70 70 67, Tano Goya (Arg) 71 70 68 69, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 68 69 68 73

279 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 72 69 69 69, Taco Remkes (Ned) 69 71 70 69, Paul Waring 70 71 69 69, Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 71 68 72 68, Santiago Luna (Spa) 68 69 72 70, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 70 71 73 65, Simon Wakefield 70 69 65 75

280 Gary Murphy 70 70 72 68, Matthew Millar (Aus) 70 71 70 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 74 67 67 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 72 66 73 69, Pablo Martin (Spa) 67 71 70 72

281 Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 73 67 72 69, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 70 70 70 71

282 Gary Lockerbie 70 71 71 70, Federico Cabrera (Arg) 71 70 72 69, John Mellor 73 68 73 68, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 69 70 69 74, Pedro Oriol (Spa) 71 70 71 70

283 Francis Valera (Spa) 73 68 74 68

284 Wil Besseling (Ned) 72 68 70 74, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 73 68 72 71

285 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 65 76 73

289 Anton Haig (Rsa) 71 67 73 78