Scotland's Paul Lawrie revived memories of Costantino Rocca and Miguel Angel Martin when he dramatically holed a 40-foot putt at St Andrews on Monday to win the richest golf event ever staged in Britain.

Lawrie collected the £551,040 first prize at the Dunhill Links championship - forced into an extra day by bad weather - and his sigh of relief matched the size of the cheque.

Two clear with two holes to play, the 32-year-old from Aberdeen appeared to be moving calmly to his first victory since the 1999 Open just up the coast at Carnoustie.

But as Els made a 15-foot birdie putt on the last Lawrie three-putted the 17th, just as he had in his third round 63.

When his pitch to the last spun back into the Valley of Sin Lawrie's thoughts were on the two putts he now needed to force a play-off with the world number four.

Instead, just as Rocca did at the 1995 Open and Martin did to win last year's Dunhill Cup, Lawrie judged the line perfectly and the ball just had the legs to topple in for a winning birdie.

"I didn't think of Rocca," he said afterwards. "I was just trying to give myself a chance of a play-off.

"It's been a tough year - but it's good now!"

He moves from 33rd back into the top 10 on the Order of Merit and back into the world's top 100.

The prize was over £250,000 more than he received for his Open triumph, when he equally dramatically came from a record 10 shots back on the last day to take advantage of Jean Van de Velde's last-hole triple bogey.

A closing 67 there for a six over par total did the job. This time he finished with a 68 for an 18 under par total of 270.

Els has still to win this year and he will reflect not so much on Lawrie's finish, but his own bogey at the 17th.

His second shot at one of the hardest holes in golf came up just short and landed in the cavernous Road Bunker, from where he failed to get out at the first attempt.

The South African hit the hole with his next and did well to make a 10-footer for bogey. He then made things even more interesting, but Lawrie trumped him.

Els' reward was £367,357, while Swindon's David Howell also birdied the last to take third place and £206,970 just ahead of Els' compatriot Jean Hugo.

Lawrie began the day sharing the lead with Paul McGinley, but the Dubliner, who had commendably kept a bogey off his card at the far tougher Carnoustie in far tougher weather, pushed his opening drive down the widest fairway in golf and saw it run into the Swilcan Burn.

What he would have given at that moment for the perfect shot from his pro-am partner, the American "Sex in the City" actor Kyle MacLachlan.

McGinley was unable to get back on terms and Lawrie picked up shots at the second, fifth, seventh and ninth to turn in 32 and two clear.

Howell, playing with another actor in Trevor Eve, matched that to move into second place and Els' third birdie of the day on the 10th took him to 16 under as well. But bogeys at the 16th and 17th ended Howell's chances.

Colin Montgomerie threatened to get in on the act when he went out in 30 and added a seventh birdie on the 12th.

But he had left himself too much ground to make up and a bogey late on - at the 17th almost inevitably - dropped him to joint fifth and ended any chance of him regaining the Order of Merit crown he held for seven years before losing it to Lee Westwood last season.

South African Retief Goosen is now almost out of reach of everybody after posting four successive rounds of 69 to finish joint ninth on 12 under.

Darren Clarke, who had a chance to go top entering the week, managed only nine under and even if he wins the Madrid Open on Sunday and then the concluding Volvo Masters two weeks later he needs a total collapse from Goosen to finish top.

However dramatic the finish was, the tournament was destined to be remembered as well for the fog, the rain and the wind which dogged the first four days and not only caused a logistical nightmare for the organisers, but also drove the fans away.

Add the controversy over some amateurs' handicaps - a total of 39 were cut by the championship committee - and it is an understatement to say the event hardly got off to the smoothest of starts.

It is expected to be three weeks earlier next year, straight after the rearranged Ryder Cup, but that still only means the start of October and few will be packing suncream for their trip.

Both the amateurs, including a host of celebrities, and the professionals gave the tournament their thumbs-up, but that came as no surprise.

The Road Hole 17th claimed another victim, Walker Cup hero Nick Dougherty taking a triple bogey seven to drop from nine under to six under.

He was never going to win, but the 19-year-old needs something very special now to avoid a trip to the qualifying school next month.

The pro-am was won by Australian Brett Rumford and Chris Peacock, a three-handicapper who works as an air traffic controller at nearby RAF Leuchars.

England cricket captain Nasser Hussain did best of the stars, finishing fourth with Welsh rookie Jamie Donaldson.

Final scores and totals in the Dunhill Links championship at the Old Course, St Andrews (Gbr & Irl unless stated):

270 P Lawrie 71 68 63 68 (£551,040)

271 E Els (Rsa) 65 70 68 68 (£367,357)

272 D Howell 67 68 69 68 (£206,970)

273 J Hugo (Rsa) 68 70 69 66 (£165,312) 275 C Montgomerie 71 68 69 67, P Harrington 67 67 72 69, P O'Malley (Aus) 71 67 68 69, P Casey 69 70 66 70

276 M Gronberg (Swe) 68 70 71 67, J Donaldson 68 66 74 68, R Goosen (Rsa) 69 69 69 69, P McGinley 67 64 71 74

277 M Pilkington 69 69 71 68, T Bjorn (Den) 70 67 71 69, B Rumford (Aus) 72 67 68 70, B Davis 65 68 72 72

278 J Rose 69 68 74 67, L Parsons (Aus) 72 68 69 69, P Sjoland (Swe) 71 66 72 69, W Smith (Aus) 71 74 67 66, E Canonica (Ita) 66 74 69 69, D Lynn 71 69 69 69, G Owen 70 67 72 69

279 D Dixon 69 70 72 68, D Clarke 72 67 70 70, J Bickerton 69 70 69 71

280 R Gonzalez (Arg) 67 70 72 71, J Moseley (Aus) 67 70 71 72

281 D Lee 68 70 71 72, MA Jimenez (Spa) 70 70 69 72, J Kingston (Rsa) 74 67 70 70, D Carter 71 73 69 68, E Romero (Arg) 70 71 72 68, R Jacquelin (Fra) 72 68 74 67

282 A Forsbrand (Swe) 71 64 76 71, H Nystrom (Swe) 70 66 74 72, N Dougherty 68 68 73 73, I Garrido (Spa) 67 72 74 69, R Karlsson (Swe) 70 70 73 69, I Garbutt 72 69 68 73, B Lane 68 72 74 68, A Scott (Aus) 72 68 75 67

284 S Kjeldsen (Den) 68 72 71 73, B Quigley (USA) 68 69 73 74, J Lomas 67 73 72 72, S Gardiner (Aus) 72 67 75 70, G Storm 71 74 70 69

285 V Phillips 75 68 69 73, T Johnstone (Zim) 67 66 80 72, G Orr 75 67 71 72, F Jacobson (Swe) 73 66 75 71

286 S Dyson 70 72 71 73, M Lundberg (Swe) 74 68 72 72, R Wessels (Rsa) 72 69 73 72, M Lafeber (Ned) 71 74 70 71

287 M Brier (Aut) 70 72 69 76, P Lonard (Aus) 71 68 76 72, J Berendt (Arg) 70 72 73 72

288 O Sandys (Rsa) 65 71 74 78, J-F Remesy (Fra) 72 74 69 73

290 D Smail (Nzl) 70 70 75 75, S Webster 70 70 75 75, J Spence 69 74 72 75 291 S Torrance 69 70 76 76

Retired: I Woosnam

Leading teams:

251 B Rumford/C Peacock 64 63 62 62

252 L Parsons/J Lambourne 64 59 66 63, B Davis/M Wang 61 63 67 61

254 J Donaldson/N Hussain 64 61 67 62

255 W Smith/M Price 62 65 65 63