91Èȱ¬

Jeev Milkha Singh beat Francesco Molinari in a play-off to win the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart after Marc Warren blew a three-shot lead.

Singh, 40, carded a final round of 67 to force a play-off with overnight leader Molinari and birdied the first extra hole to take the £470,000 cheque.

Singh also took the last qualifying place for next week's Open at Lytham.

Warren held a three-shot lead with four holes to go but faded away after a disastrous double bogey at the 15th.

Warren started the day two shots behind Molinari but looked set for victory and a place at The Open when he held a three-shot cushion teeing off at the 15th.

But a double bogey at 15 followed by a bogey at 16 dropped him back into a four-way tie for the lead with Alexander Noren, Singh and Molinari.

He then hit a wayward chip onto the green at 17 to drop another shot and ended up in a tie for third with Noren.

Warren told 91Èȱ¬ Sport: "It was surreal how easy it all was up until that point.

"I was still ahead after the double bogey but I lost concentration on a putt of a couple of feet and it is one of those things that happens in golf.

"It was all a bit disappointing.

"It was in my hands with four holes to go, it was up to me but I didn't finish it off."

Singh had earlier hit a five under par 67 to take the clubhouse lead and then watched as Warren and then Noren dropped out of contention.

Molinari came up the last knowing that a birdie would win the title, but was left with a lengthy two-putt and could only make par to force the play-off after a round of level par 72.

The pair played the par-five 18th again, with Molinari having the first putt for birdie but leaving his effort well short.

Singh then holed superbly to take his first win of the year. His best performance this season had been a seventh place finish at the Stockholm Masters.

The Indian can now look forward to his second appearance at the Open after missing the cut at Carnoustie five years ago.

"I would say I'm a very fortunate man," said Singh after his victory on Sunday.

"I'm looking forward to the Open championship. Coming from India I'm not used to links courses but since coming to Europe I've played a lot of links courses.

"This [victory] has given me a lot of confidence and I can build on that. I'm feeling fit and good things are on their way in the future."

Despite losing the play-off, Molinari moved up from 10th to fourth on the European Ryder Cup table after his second runner-up finish in a row.

The Italian is behind Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Paul Lawrie, while Martin Kaymer drops from fifth to ninth and Sergio Garcia from ninth to 10th.