Scotland are still searching for their first World Cup title after being agonisingly denied victory in a sudden-death play-off in Barbados.

Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren fired a closing 69 in Sunday's foursomes to match the 16-under-par target set by Germany's Bernhard Langer and Marcel Siem, who returned a stunning 66.

But the Scots then bogeyed the first extra hole, the par-three 18th, after Montgomerie missed the green with his tee shot and Warren chipped four feet past.

Langer had also missed the green in a similar spot but Siem's chip pulled up just short of the hole to leave Langer to tap in for his second World Cup victory, 16 years after partnering Torsten Gideon to the title in Florida.

Sweden's Henrik Stenson and Carl Pettersson were also 16 under playing the 18th but three-putted from long range to miss out on the play-off.

As Montgomerie made a swift exit on a private plane to compete in Tiger Woods' event next week, Warren was left to sum up his team's acute disappointment.

"That's the first time I've ever lost a play-off in my career," said the 25-year-old, who won his first European Tour title in sudden death in Sweden earlier this season.

"I know how the other guy feels and it's not a nice feeling, especially in such a big event.

"I've really seen this week why Monty has won eight Order of Merit titles. From tee to green he is relentless, almost every shot is where he wants to put it and it looks absolutely effortless at times. I can't say enough about him.

"He told me at the end it was a great effort and we couldn't do much more. He is as disappointed as I am.

"We had a great chance to win but unfortunately that didn't happen. It's a shame for Scottish golf but hopefully this will give it a boost anyway."

Torrential rain had earlier left parts of the Sandy Lane course under water and forced play to be suspended for almost an hour and three quarters.

When play resumed Scotland quickly registered their first birdie of the day on the fifth to move into a share of the lead.

Montgomerie spared Warren's blushes with a par-saving putt from eight feet on the seventh after the rookie of the year had charged his birdie attempt past the hole, and Warren was quick to repay the favour after Montgomerie's birdie putt came up well short on the ninth.

Out in 35, Scotland then edged in front for the first time this week when Montgomerie converted Warren's excellent tee-shot on the 11th for a birdie two.

They were not going to have it all their own way, however, and Sweden drew level with birdies at the 12th and 13th before Germany made it a three-way tie with a birdie on the 15th.

Siem's long birdie putt on the next put them ahead but a bogey on the 17th meant a play-off was now the most likely outcome.

After birdie chances went begging on the 15th and 16th Montgomerie then had to hole a nervy par putt from five feet on the last, but the 43-year-old was unable to repeat the trick in sudden death.

Sweden finished alone in third with South Africa a shot further back in fourth.

Wales' Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd put up a creditable defence of their title before finishing in a tie for eighth with Ireland's Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington in joint 12th.

Pre-tournament favourites England suffered a disappointing week and had to settle for a share of 15th.

World number Luke Donald admitted he and David Howell never found top gear.

"Both of us really weren't on our games this week at all," he said. "It seemed like we could never get any momentum.

"It was one of those weeks where you feel like pulling your hair out.

"It has been a long year. It's felt like the most drawn out year for me so far. It's gone on a long time but there are other players here who've been in similar situations and have played well.

"Again, I don't think it's an excuse, but it has been a long year and sometimes it's hard to get yourself up when you feel like you could do with a bit of a rest.

"We tried our hardest but it wasn't close to good enough."

Langer was making his first appearance in the tournament for a decade but came into the week in form after partnering his 16-year-old son Stefan to victory in a father/son tournament for the second year in succession in Orlando on Sunday.

Stefan also acted as his father's caddy this week and Langer said: "Every trophy is special but the last few years I didn't win a lot.

"It was nice to be on a roll and to win two weeks in a row and have Stefan on the bag is a great experience.

"It's not easy to believe that 16 years later I am still in the winner's circle. It just shows that the golf ball doesn't know how old you are!"

Langer paid tribute to Siem, adding: "The chip shot on 18, nobody could play it better. You could put Phil Mickelson or Seve Ballesteros there and they couldn't do better.

"He was nervous on Thursday but he got it together real quick and played the best golf of anyone today."

Siem, who also won his only European Tour title in a play-off, returned the compliment, adding: "I've learnt a lot this week from playing with Bernhard, he is such a legend.

"It's unbelievable to win a tournament with him, it's such a great feeling."

Collated final-round scores (Par 71):

268 Germany (Bernhard Langer/Marcel Siem) 65 69 68 66, Scotland (Colin Montgomerie/Marc Warren) 67 67 65 69

Germany (£707,285) beat Scotland (£353,642) at first extra hole

269 Sweden (Henrik Stenson/Carl Pettersson) 64 70 63 72 (£202,081)

270 South Africa (Rory Sabbitini/Richard Sterne) 64 71 67 68 (£101,040)

271 Spain (Miguel Angel Jimenez/Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano) 69 66 67 69, United States (Stewart Cink/JJ Henry) 66 73 63 69, Argentina (Angel Cabrera/Andres Romero) 64 67 67 73

273 Australia (John Senden/Mark Hensby) 68 72 64 69, Mexico (Esteban Toledo/Octavio Gonzalez) 69 68 65 71, Italy (Francesco Molinari/Emanuele Canonica) 68 70 64 71, Wales (Bradley Dredge/Stephen Dodd) 65 75 62 71

275 Switzerland (Nicolas Sulzer/Martin Rominger) 73 70 64 68, Ireland (Padraig Harrington/Paul McGinley) 67 73 66 69

277 Colombia (Camilo Villegas/Manuel Merizalde) 67 74 66 70

278 Canada (Mike Weir/Jim Rutledge) 69 72 66 71, England (Luke Donald/David Howell) 66 70 70 72

280 Singapore (Mardan Mamat/Chih-Bing Lam) 71 72 68 69

281 Denmark (Thomas Bjorn/Soren Hansen) 70 70 71 70

283 South Korea (SK Ho/Charlie Wi) 66 72 70 75

285 France (Jean Van de Velde/Raphael Jacquelin) 68 75 65 77

288 Barbados (James Johnson/Roger Beale) 69 76 71 72, Trinidad & Tobago (Stephen Ames/Robert Ames) 70 73 67 78

289 Japan (Tetsuji Hiratsuka/Hideto Tanihara) 67 74 74 74

295 Jamaica (Peter Horrobin/Delroy Cambridge) 72 76 67 80