Three years after becoming the first Scot to win the US Amateur in 108 years, Richie Ramsay now has his first European Tour title.

The 25-year-old from Aberdeen won the South African Open at Pearl Valley today, coming from five behind with a best-of-the-day 65 and then beating Indian Shiv Kapur with a birdie on the first play-off hole.

"There's no greater feeling than winning and I'm just a flood of emotions - I'm holding back the tears," said Ramsay after receiving the second oldest trophy in golf.

The pair tied on the 13-under-par mark of 275 but the former Walker Cup player grabbed the first prize of £141,745 - and a Tour exemption that runs until the end of 2011 - when he was on the green in two at the 601-yard 18th and two-putted.

"Things just went for me," he added. "But I am a lot more positive now - I go out believing and thinking I can win."

Ramsay did not drop a shot all day, going to the turn in 33 and then grabbing more birdies on the 10th, 12th, 15th and 17th.

The last of those, a 14-footer following a superb approach from the rough over water, brought Ramsay into the joint lead and, after he had missed a 25-foot birdie chance on the last, Kapur stood on the same green with a 12-foot putt for his first Tour title but missed.

Denmark's Anders Hansen, Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed and Italian Edoardo Molinari all could have joined the play-off with a closing eagle but failed.

Hansen's birdie left him third, while the other two parred to be joint fourth - and that was good enough for Molinari to climb into the world's top 50 just in time to join his brother Francesco in the Masters at Augusta in April.

Overnight leader Pablo Martin, winner of last week's Alfred Dunhill Championship, dropped to sixth with a 73.

Ramsay went into the event ranked 240th in the world and the victory will take him just inside the top 120.

That makes him the second highest-ranked Scot behind US Tour-based Martin Laird. Their last winner on the European circuit was Alastair Forsyth in Portugal 19 months ago.

It was not until he came fourth at the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews in October that Ramsay made sure of keeping his card.

He led the Wales Open earlier in the year but found himself in a rules controversy there and the fact he escaped punishment upset a number of other players.

Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour South African Open, Pearl Valley Golf Estates, Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

275 Richie Ramsay 67 75 68 65 (Richie Ramsay won at the first play-off hole), Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 68 69 67

276 Anders Hansen (Den) 66 69 72 69

277 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 68 69 69 71, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 68 68 70

278 Pablo Martin (Spa) 65 68 72 73, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 73 71 68 66

279 Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 68 73 68 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 72 66 69 72, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 72 70 67, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 72 69 68 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 68 75 69 67

280 Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 67 74 70, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 76 69 68 67

281 Richard Bland 73 72 66 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 69 73 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 74 70 68

282 Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 69 75 69 69, Scott Dunlap (USA) 72 70 70 70, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 69 74 68

283 Damien McGrane 69 72 71 71, David Drysdale 75 70 68 70, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 69 69 74 71, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 70 74 67, Simon Khan 73 71 68 71

284 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 71 71 73, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 77 68 70 69, Jean Hugo (Rsa) 72 69 70 73, Andrew Coltart 74 67 73 70, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 73 72 68 71

285 Robert Rock 71 74 71 69, Dawie Van der Walt (Rsa) 65 73 74 73, George Coetzee (Rsa) 74 67 74 70, David Hewan (Rsa) 77 68 69 71

286 Callum Macaulay 70 69 73 74, Grant Muller (Rsa) 72 72 70 72, Gareth Maybin 75 68 72 71, Richard McEvoy 71 69 73 73, Keith Horne (Rsa) 71 72 73 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 70 71 73 72, John Bickerton 73 70 72 71, Michael Hoey 70 70 70 76

287 Gary Murphy 75 69 71 72, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 71 69 75, Andre Cruse (Rsa) 72 71 71 73, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 79 65 74 69

288 Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 74 69 70 75, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 64 74 78 72, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 76 67 72 73, Sam Hutsby 71 73 69 75, Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 70 74 73, Louis Moolman (Rsa) 70 74 71 73, Richard Finch 68 71 76 73, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 74 72 71, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 74 72 73

289 Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 72 72 73 72, Joost Luiten (Ned) 73 69 73 74, Rhys Davies 73 70 72 74

290 Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 71 73 71 75, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 74 70 73 73

291 Dion Fourie (Rsa) 71 72 72 76, Steve Basson (Rsa) 73 70 73 75, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 69 73 74 75, Paul Waring 73 72 72 74, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 70 73 70 78, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 74 70 73 74

292 Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 72 72 72 76

294 JG Claassen (Rsa) 74 69 75 76, Peter Whiteford 73 72 75 74, Alan McLean 69 73 79 73, Kenneth Ferrie 71 70 75 78

296 James Morrison 72 73 74 77

298 Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa) 72 73 75 78

299 TC Charamba (Zim) 73 72 73 81, Doug McGuigan 70 75 72 82

300 James Kamte (Rsa) 70 74 77 79

301 Thabang Simon (Rsa) 75 70 74 82

302 Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 71 71 79 81

304 Marco Ruiz (Par) 74 70 79 81

308 Ryan Dreyer (Rsa) 73 72 76 87