Ian Poulter made the ideal start to his bid to secure a third Ryder Cup appearance with a battling one-stroke victory in the Barclays Singapore Open.

After a six-week break, Poulter is embarking on a seven-week stretch of highly-lucrative events, including Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Dubai, which could go a long way to securing a place on Colin Montgomerie's team at Celtic Manor.

And after posting a second consecutive one-over-par 72 at Sentosa Golf Club to complete a wire-to-wire victory by edging out China's Liang Wen-chong, Poulter has moved up to fourth in the Ryder Cup standings.

After claiming his first title since the Dunlop Phoenix in 2007 and first on the European Tour since Madrid the previous year, the 33-year-old will also move into the top 15 in the Race to Dubai and has his sights firmly set on leading trio Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy.

"It's great to win but there is more to winning right now," Poulter said.

"It is the right time to win as the Ryder Cup points have now started and I wanted to come out over the next seven weeks - five of which are counting for world ranking points and Ryder Cup points - and put as much money on the board as I possibly could.

"I have got off to a great start.

"I have got three more tournaments included for the Race to Dubai and I would like to think that I can have a chance to push Rory or Lee all the way.

"It's an exciting few weeks leading to Dubai and I am very much looking forward to getting to Shanghai and staying fresh and working on a few shots which got away from me this week.

"I have got better things to come over the next three weeks, I am only going to get better.

"I have had six weeks off and I removed some cobwebs this week. There were some very promising signs this week and I am hitting it as good as I have ever hit it."

Poulter had led the field by five shots at the halfway mark of the weather-interrupted event after following up an opening 66 with a sparkling 64.

And even though he saw that lead erased after just six holes of his third round, and then trailed with six holes of his final round to play, he strode up onto the final green with a one-shot lead.

"It has been a dramatic two days. It has been hard with the stopping and starting, but being five shots in front after 36 holes surprised me a little," he added.

"I have done a lot of work in the six weeks I had off, but I was looking to ease into a week, not come out all guns blazing.

"Over the last two days, whether I was distracted, not concentrating or whether I was tired, I found myself dropping silly shots and making this tournament a lot more interesting."

After nearly missing the cut, Australian Adam Scott shared third with compatriot Scott Hend, while Graeme McDowell was forced to settle for fifth alongside Dane Anders Hansen and South African Charl Schwartzel.

McDowell briefly claimed the lead in the final round before a run of three consecutive bogeys on the back nine.

Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Barclays Singapore Open, Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

274 Ian Poulter 66 64 72 72

275 Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 69 68 68 70

276 Scott Hend (Aus) 72 66 69 69, Adam Scott (Aus) 72 71 65 68

277 Graeme McDowell 71 65 67 74, Anders Hansen (Den) 68 71 68 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 68 68 69

278 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 69 67 71 71

279 Marcus Both (Aus) 72 71 67 69, Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 68 68 71 72, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 69 68 70 72, Thomas Levet (Fra) 68 68 73 70, Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn) 70 70 67 72

280 Sam Hutsby 69 70 69 72, Phil Mickelson (USA) 69 71 69 71, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 74 69 69 68, Justin Rose 72 70 70 68, Ernie Els (Rsa) 67 69 72 72, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 71 67 73 69, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 67 71 69

281 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 70 65 74 72, Marc Warren 73 69 67 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 69 72 70

282 Yin-shin Chan (Tpe) 67 68 75 72, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 67 75 71, Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 69 70 68 75, Tano Goya (Arg) 74 68 72 68, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 73 67 72 70, Peter Lawrie 71 66 71 74, Ross McGowan 69 69 70 74

283 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 73 70 70 70, Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 73 68 70 72, Richard Finch 71 68 70 74, Keith Horne (Rsa) 74 68 70 71, Richard Green (Aus) 68 73 72 70, Ted Oh (Kor) 70 73 70 70, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 72 69 71 71

284 Steve Webster 71 72 69 72, Tony Carolan (Aus) 74 67 73 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 67 70 74, Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 69 69 72 74, Padraig Harrington 74 69 72 69

285 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 72 69 72 72, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 69 72 72 72

286 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 67 75 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 74 66 72 74, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 67 69 76

287 Danny Lee (Nzl) 71 72 72 72, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 71 68 77, Guido Van Der Valk (Ned) 72 71 72 72

288 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 68 73 76 71, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 75 66 75 72, Jason Knutzon (USA) 75 67 77 69

289 Zaw Moe (Kor) 71 72 73 73, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 73 70 74 72, Graeme Storm 74 69 76 70

290 Scott Barr (Aus) 71 71 75 73, Kenneth Ferrie 71 72 75 72, Darren Clarke 73 69 73 75, Martin Rominger (Swi) 74 68 77 71

291 Andrew Coltart 70 73 75 73, Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 71 72 72 76, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 72 72 76, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 69 73 69 80

292 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 71 72 76 73, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 71 74 77, Nicholas Redfern 71 70 76 75

293 Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 70 72 74 77

294 Mitchell Brown (Aus) 75 68 76 75