CHRISTIAN Cevaer, 449th in the world and without a top 30 finish in his last 15 tournaments, overcame a star-studded field and one of the toughest holes in golf to be the shock winner of the European Open.

After an amazing weekend which saw 45 changes of the lead, the 39-year-old, whose only previous Tour victory was the 2004 Spanish Open, beat England’s Steve Webster, Scot Gary Orr and Spaniard Alvaro Quiros by a shot.

His winning total of 281, seven under par, was 13 strokes more than Ross Fisher took on the same London Club course last year – and his 74 was the highest last round by a winner all season.

But while Webster and Quiros both became more victims of the 471-yard last when tied for the lead – both carved their drives into the crowd, with Quiros hitting spectators with his first and second shots – Cevaer kept his nerve.

During the week the par four played to an average of nearly 4.7, with 154 bogeys, 48 doubles and 26 sevens or worse, but Cevaer parred it the first two days, birdied it in the third round and finished with the par he needed.

‘‘I’m not a long player, but I used my utility club and it worked out great,’’ he said.

He played the front nine in 39 and did not have a birdie until the long 15th, but the problems meant that it brought him back into a share of top spot.

And then three closing pars were good enough to give him the £300,000 first prize, easily the biggest of his 16-year professional career.

Things went from bad to worse for Graeme Storm after powering his way into contention on Thursday.

But having shot himself into the leading pack with a first round 68 he was unable to repeat his heroics and dropped well down the leaderboard.

After his 76 and 72 over Friday and Saturday, Storm ended with another frustrating display yesterday when he posted seven bogeys on his way to a final round 75.

It left him three over par and in 34th place – some ten shots adrift Cevaer.

LEADERBOARD 281 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 67 70 70 74 282 Gary Orr 71 72 68 71, Steve Webster 69 72 70 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 71 70 69 72 283 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 67 69 71 76, Chris Wood 69 73 68 73, Stephen Dodd 75 70 70 68 284 Soren Hansen (Den) 69 75 67 73, Ben Curtis (USA) 68 73 75 68, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 70 72 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 68 74 72 285 Rory McIlroy 69 73 68 75 286 David Drysdale 72 71 72 71, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 75 74 68, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 72 72 71 287 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 74 75 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 75 70 74 288 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 70 75 71 72, Richie Ramsay 74 70 68 76, Michael Lorenzo- Vera (Fra) 67 69 77 75, Branden Grace (Rsa) 69 75 74 70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 71 74 71 72, Simon Khan 67 76 74 71, Anthony Wall 68 69 76 75, Shaun Micheel (USA) 71 71 74 72, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 69 76 68 75