FINAL LEADERBOARD -16 Colin Montgomerie (GB) -13 Greg Hanrahan (US) -12 Nick O'Hern (Aus), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) -10 Patrick Sjoland (Swe), Wang Ter-chang (Tai), Barry Lane (GB) Full clubhouse scores

The Scot overturned a four-shot deficit with a stunning final round of 65 for a 16-under-par total at Laguna National.

The former European number one claimed his 28th career victory by three strokes from American Greg Hanrahan.

The result returns Montgomerie to the world's top 50 and secures his place at next week's Players' Championship.

The 40-year-old's Singapore success ends a barren spell for the Ryder Cup star.

He failed to win an event in Europe last year for the first time in more than a decade, his last tour title coming when he controversially shared the Volvo Masters with Bernhard Langer in November 2002.

"It's been a long time since I last won a Tour event, but all the travel around the world has been worth the wait," Montgomerie said after his triumph.

"I came in to play the final round with an aim of posting a score of 65 and it gives me a lot of confidence to go out and do just that.

"Last year I was feeling low, but not now. I made 17 birdies and had one bogey. I was doing everything right."

The Scot began the week bemoaning the "little mistakes" which have crept into his game since his prime in the 1990s.

And it looked like they would prove costly again when he bogeyed the final hole of his first round on Thursday to card a 71.

But he never dropped another shot all week and finished in style with his lowest final round since a 64 when winning at Loch Lomond in 1999.

Coup de grace

Montgomerie felt he needed to birdie three of the first four holes on Sunday to put pressure on the leaders, but despite birdies at the first and second, he was still three behind British veteran Barry Lane who had picked up a shot on the second.

But further birdies on the fifth and seventh cut the deficit to a single stroke, and when Lane bogeyed the ninth Montgomerie was tied for the lead for the first time.

The Scot then moved clear with another birdie on the 13th and with his challengers all falling away, a sixth birdie of the day on the par five 15th effectively sealed victory.

There was still time to deliver the coup de grace with a towering long iron to within two feet of the hole on the 202-yard par three 17th, setting up another birdie on the hardest hole of the course.

Lane, who shared the lead with Hanrahan after round three, had to be content with a share of fourth place following his final-round 75.