Martin Kaymer defeated Lee Westwood in an exciting play-off to capture the Open de France ALSTOM.
The Englishman’s magnificent final round 65 forced an extra hole as both men finished 13 under for the week at Le Golf National.
Returning to the devilish 470 yard par four 18th both men found rough from the tee, but while Kaymer’s second just cleared the water to land in the rough, Westwood was not so lucky.
His ball landed in the water behind a sponsorship sign and his chip from the drop zone left him a 30 foot putt for bogey.
He slid it right, leaving his 24 year old opponent two putts for the title, of which he only needed one.
His third European Tour title takes him back into the world's top 20 and earned him €666,660.
Kaymer, who started the week with a course record-equalling 62, said: "This is obviously very special for me. I had some good chances, but finally I won it, so it's good.
“I hit the same iron as I had done 20 minutes before but it was just a weak shot,” he added, speaking of his tee shot in the play-off. “It was an okay lie and I thought that I could easily get it over the water. I had 170 metres with a six iron, but I pulled it a little bit which probably turned out to be a good thing.
“I carried the water by about a metre or so. With the chip over the bunker down to the flag I just wanted to make sure that I kept the ball short of the flag because there was a danger of losing it off the back of the green into the water. After his fourth shot I knew that I had at least one putt for the tournament and I managed to sneak that one in the left side.”
“Martin's ball has carried the water by a foot and mine must have went in by a foot. That's the chance you take in play-offs,” said Westwood, who has now gone almost two years without a European Tour win - despite 17 top ten finishes.
“You can't judge the week by that and I certainly can't be disappointed by anything after the way I played today. I was delighted with my putting today. I had 31 putts for the first three rounds here and that's just not good enough, but I putted a lot better today and that's just what I need to do because if I can carry that on then I will be winning events by a couple of shots and not going to play-offs.”
Ian Poulter compiled a 67 to take third place on ten under par, one better than Dane Anders Hansen and Sweden’s Peter Hanson.
