Peter Hedblom holds off strong Martin Erlandsson challenge for Gleneagles victory

Peter Hedblom breathed a huge sigh of relief at Gleneagles after the Swede won the Johnnie Walker Championship.

The 39 year-old's ecstasy was not just that he had grabbed only his third European Tour victory in 364 starts, but also that he did not need a play-off.

Four times Hedblom has gone into sudden death in his career and four times he has lost – the most recent of them last Sunday in Holland when England's Simon Dyson sank an 18-foot birdie putt.

On this occasion, though, a five-under-par 67 gave the former Malaysian and Moroccan Open champion a one-shot victory, his first success on European soil.

Hedblom beat compatriot Martin Erlandsson after Erlandsson, joint 20th overnight, had set the clubhouse target with an astonishing 62, the lowest round of his life.

But Hedblom reeled off four birdies in a row around the turn and a further one at the long 16th to win the £233,330 first prize with a 13-under total of 275.

"That was so tough," he said. "What a round Martin played – I couldn't believe it and he should have won."

Defending champion Gregory Havret and Scotland's former Open champion Paul Lawrie shared third place.

Erlandsson, whose seven successive birdies from the sixth was a Tour best for the season and only one short of the record, has had chances to win before and admits he has struggled with the mental side of the game. As a result his psychologist advised turning his mind to other things when under pressure.

"I was looking at my thumb and wondering how it looked," he said. "I was also trying to look at a tree or somebody in the audience to keep my mind at peace."

Colin Montgomerie and José María Olazábal finished down in 31st place and Montgomerie then announced that, because of fatigue, he was withdrawing from this week's European Masters in Switzerland.

That is the first counting event for his Ryder Cup side and he says he will be watching "avidly".

Becky Brewerton, from Wales, finished in a four-way tie for third place in the Finnair Masters yesterday as Spain's Beatriz Recari won the event.