Els goes into next week's Open in good form

Scottish Open leader Ernie Els brushed off a shaky start and an early threat from Darren Clarke to ease to victory at Loch Lomond.

A round of 69 took him to 17 under par for the tournament, five shots clear of second placed Phillip Price and Darren Clarke.

That made him the first player to win the Scottish Open for a second time.

Watch final round highlights

"It was difficult today," Els said afterwards. "I was playing good and then making mistakes.

"I didn't feel all that good on the greens today for some reason.

"But I love playing here. Loch Lomond is the most beautiful course we play in Europe."

FINAL LEADERBOARD -17 Ernie Els (Rsa) -12 Phillip Price (Wal), Darren Clarke (NIr) -10 Gary Murphy (Ire) -9 Ian Poulter (Eng), Peter Lonard (Aus), Gary Evans (Eng)

The Republic of Ireland's Gary Murphy hit a four-under-par round of 67 to take fourth place outright on 10 under, his best ever finish on the European Tour.

Superb rounds of 65 took Gary Evans and Mark Roe into the high finishers at nine and eight under par respectively, Roe clinching a place in next week's Open as a result.

Australia's Peter Lonard shared fifth place on nine under par thanks to a wonderful hole in one at the 17th.

Els' victory maintained his remarkable record on the European Tour this season, with three victories, two second places and three other top six finishes in his eight strokeplay events so far.

The day did not begin too well for Els as he dropped a shot at the second, and a birdie from playing partner Clarke on the next reduced the gap to three shots.

HAVE YOUR SAY On this form I can't see anyone stopping Ernie at Sandwich - he was simply awesome From Geoff Mustard, Brighton Join the debate

But the South African soon recovered, picking up shots at six, nine and 11 as Clarke dropped a shot at the ninth.

Price had briefly closed the gap to four shots with his fourth birdie of the day at the 10th, but although Els dropped further shots at 12 and 16, birdies at 14 and 17 ensured he was never in danger of being caught.

Clarke admitted he was disappointed not to have put up a stiffer challenge on the final day.

"It is disappointing to play the way I did today but I made a couple of birdies at the end to move back up to finish tied second so that is encouraging and I will take that thought into next week," he added

After winning the European Open last week in Dublin, Price was happy to have been among the leaders again at Loch Lomond.

"To be honest I almost didn't come this week because I was so tired, so to play as well as this is very pleasing. Let's hope it's the same stuff next week."

Greater Milwaukee Open

Overnight leader Kenny Perry hit a 66 for the second day running to win the Greater Milwaukee Open by one stroke.

In-form Perry finished on 12-under to hold off Australia's Steve Allan and Heath Slocum, who also carded rounds of 66 at Brown Deer Park on Sunday.

It was Perry's third tournament win in his last four events with the only "blip" coming when he was third in the US Open.

Perry began the final round with a one-stroke lead and led by a stroke over Allan after a birdie at the par-three 11th.

But he then dropped a shot at the par-four 12th and had a double bogey at the 13th to leave Allan, who had birdied the 14th, three clear.

However, Allan failed to take advantage of birdie opportunities on two par-fives in the last four holes and then bogeyed the 17th.