Barry Lane holds nerve in windy finale to earn Scottish Senior Open triumph

On a day when the winner and one of his fellow countrymen, Gordon J Brand, were the only players in the 78-strong field to match the par on the pristine-looking Torrance Course, the Englishman signed for a closing 72 to claim the 37,500 top prize with a four-under-par total of 212.

Lane, a former Ryder Cup player who has taken just four events to make his mark in the Senior Tour, won by four shots from two of his compatriots, 64-year-old Jim Rhodes, who made a remarkable late climb up the leaderboard thanks to a 73, and Glenn Ralph, the defending champion and overnight leader who closed with a 77.

"Scotland has been good to me," said Lane, who finished second on his Senior debut at Slaley Hall after turning 50 in June. "Winning this event is just as good as my triumph at Gleneagles and it is nice to knock off a title in my rookie season."

Lane, the eighth first-time winner of the season on the circuit and the third Englishman in a row to win this title, following Peter Mitchell (2008) and Ralph (2009), returns to the main Tour this week when he heads back to Gleneagles for the Johnnie Walker Championship.

"The main Tour is more intense but, if I can play as well as I did this week and also stay relaxed then hopefully I should do okay," added the winner, who finished third in the Avantha Masters in India on the regular circuit earlier in the year and is currently lying 138th in the Race to Dubai.

On another difficult day high above St Andrews - the wind was gusting to nearly 30mph and some of the pin positions looked a bit on the naughty side - Ralph set out with a one-shot cushion over Lane, with Des Smyth, the third member of the final group, another stroke adrift alongside DJ Russell and South African Chris Williams.

While Ralph showed a deft touch to save pars at the first two holes, Smyth suffered an early setback with a double-bogey six at the second. The affable Irishman went on to close with a 79, finishing tied for sixth on 220.

After starting with two pars, Lane was fortunate not to find water at the long third, where he picked up a first birdie of the day to move to five-under for the tournament, level with both Ralph and Russell as the leaders moved towards the end of the front nine.

Russell, the Englishman who lives at Archerfield Links, where he designed the two courses, had gone out in two-under, but saw his title challenge derailed when he dropped six shots in five holes during a damaging run from the 11th, while Ralph's hopes of hanging on to the title disappeared on the back of four bogeys in a row from the ninth.

Lane dropped a shot at the 166-yard 11th but headed into the closing stretch with a handy cushion. A duffed pitch saw him bogey the 16th but he was home and hosed by then. "It was very hard out there, particularly on the back nine which was treacherous," said the Middlesex man. "However, I love links golf and was pleased to see it was windy when I woke up this morning."

Sam Torrance and Andrew Oldcorn shared the honour as the leading Scot on seven-over after closing rounds of 75 and 76 respectively put them in a tie for 19th.

Torrance spoiled his card with a double-bogey five at the 17th before missing a short birdie putt at the last, where Oldcorn made a four soon afterwards to join his compatriot on 223.

"It was very tough out there but I drove the ball magnificently and I'm very happy with my game, which is a lot better than it was a month ago," said Torrance, who headed straight to Gleneagles for a practice round today ahead of his appearance in the Johnnie Walker Championship this week. He's heading home to Sunningdale tomorrow, though, to celebrate his 57th birthday with his family.

212 Barry Lane (Eng) 69 71 72

216 Jim Rhodes (Eng) 73 70 73

Glenn Ralph (Eng) 68 71 77

217 David Russell (Eng) 69 72 76

218 Chris Williams (RSA) 68 73 77

220 Gordon Brand Jr (Eng) 73 75 72

Peter Fowler (Aus) 70 76 74

Luis Carbonetti (Arg) 69 75 76

Des Smyth (Ire) 71 70 79