Lee Westwood made a stout defence of his Quinn Insurance British Masters title at The Belfry yesterday before eventually succumbing at the third hole of a sudden-death play-off with Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, of Spain - who celebrated his victory by plunging into the lake at the front of the 18th green of the Brabazon course.

Westwood, who started the final round level with Michael Campbell, of New Zealand, on ten under par, and three strokes ahead of Fernández-Castaño, would have been spared the play-off had he sunk a 20-foot putt at the final hole of regulation play. But when he missed it, the tournament moved into matchplay mode.

Three times the players were taken back to the 18th tee and each time Westwood outdrove his opponent. He did not, however, force home the advantage. With light fading fast, both players had putts to seal victory - Westwood at the second play-off hole, Fernández-Castaño at the first and third - and it was the Spaniard who finally wrapped things up with an exquisite chip to within tap-in range for a certain par that Westwood, who had found deep rough to the side of the green, could not match.

It was Fernández-Castaño's fourth win in four seasons on the European Tour and was in direct contrast with a lacklustre season in which he had managed only two top-ten finishes. But his victory brought him a £300,000 first prize and moved him from No105 on the Order of Merit to No33 and guaranteed him a place at the season-ending Volvo Masters at Valderrama that is open to the tour's leading 60 players.

Westwood, who had been competing at the Ryder Cup in Louisville, Kentucky a week earlier, did well to keep fatigue at bay. And though he was disappointed not to win for the first time this year, the £200,000 runners-up cheque moved him into second place in the European standings, about £179,000 behind Padraig Harrington and narrowly ahead of Robert Karlsson and Miguel Ángel Jiménez. The race for the Order of Merit is well and truly on.

It has always been said of Westwood that when he gets a sniff of victory he rarely lets go. A superb front-runner, he had won 18 European Tour events before last week - and 12 around the world - but this time, he was unable to shake off the man snapping at his heels.

With eight holes of the fog-affected third round still to be completed at the start of the day, Westwood picked up an eagle and two birdies to get alongside Campbell, who fought hard all day but eventually had to settle for third place after a fourth round of 72.

By the time Westwood was walking to the 9th tee in the fourth round, it looked as if the title was his for the taking. He led both Campbell and Fernández-Castaño by three shots, but slowly saw his lead whittled away by the Spaniard, who drew level with Westwood for the first time at the 13th after hitting a brilliant approach shot from out of heavy rough to within four feet of the hole for his fourth birdie of the day.

At this stage, the momentum was with Fernández-Castaño, who in parts played what he once described as “typical Spanish golf” - wayward driving combined with brilliant recovery shots. He overhauled Henrik Stenson to win the BMW Asian Open in a play-off in Shanghai two years ago, and was about to do the same to Westwood. His round of 67 included five birdies, no dropped shots and a chip-in for par at the par-three 12th, having found water off the tee. Westwood had a 70.

“I feel that I am running on empty, so to get in to the play-off was good,” Westwood said. “But my swing did not feel good today and I paid for it. When Gonzo chipped in at the 12th, I think the writing was on the wall.”