Italian teenager Matteo Manassero holed a 12-foot eagle putt on the third play-off hole to claim a dramatic victory over South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen at the Barclays Singapore Open yesterday.

In his first ever play-off, Manassero showed steel beyond his 19 years as he matched the 2010 British Open winner with birdie and par on the first two extra holes and then nervelessly downed the winner at a packed Sentosa Golf Club.

In denying Oosthuizen, Manassero also clinched this season's European money title for world number one Rory McIlroy, making him only the second man to win the merit race on both sides of the Atlantic in the same year.

It settled a marathon final day for the $6 million tournament after storm delays earlier in the week meant Manassero had to play 36 holes in Singapore's tropical heat yesterday.

"It's been an extremely long day," he said. "The adrenaline kept me going and the key I think was starting really well this morning... and the play-off was a great honor. It's the first play-off of my career, it's been amazing."

Oosthuizen has won twice this year but he was forced to revisit the disappointment of the US Masters play-off in April, when he lost out to Bubba Watson's famous hook shot from the trees.

Manassero, who in 2010 became the youngest man to make the cut at the Masters and also was crowned the European Tour's youngest ever winner, is now also the youngest champion in the Singapore Open's 51-year history.

Earlier, McIlroy eagled his last hole for a 65 and third place, three shots behind the leaders. A win for Oosthuizen was the only result which would have delayed him from taking the European money title.

"It's an award for consistency. You need to consistently play well throughout the year no matter what events you play," he said of the prize.

Overnight leader Thomas Bjorn finished four adrift on nine-under for the tournament, while three-time winner Adam Scott and Italy's Francesco Molinari shared fifth, one stroke further back.

After lightning storms disrupted the first two days, players were on the course early to complete the third round and Manassero finished with a 64 to take a two-shot lead.

Organizers gambled on fine weather as they pressed ahead with the fourth round, rather than cutting the tournament to 54 holes, and under fine skies it soon developed into a duel between the young Italian and Oosthuizen.

The 30-year-old Oosthuizen made a great par save after finding water on the seventh hole, and then birdied three in a row around the turn to join Manassero in the lead at 13 under par.

Consecutive bogeys on 12 and 13 seemed to put Oosthuizen out of it -- but he fired back with a chip-in birdie on 14, and when Manassero bunkered on the 15th for bogey, the scores were level again.

A fabulous chip to within two feet on 18 looked to have given Oosthuizen the outright win as he finished his round on 67 for a 13-under-par total of 271.*AFP

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