p>Open champion Ernie Els today cruised to his second Scottish Open title and fifth win of the season at Loch Lomond.
Els carded a final-round 69 for a 17-under-par total of 267, five shots clear of Ryder Cup team-mates Phil Price and Darren Clarke, Ireland's Gary Murphy enjoying his best ever finish two shots further back in fourth.
Murphy picked up a cool €159,000 for his week's work, by far the biggest cheque of his professional career. The performance also qualifies the Kilkenny golfer for next week's Open Championship at Sandwich and, crucially, guarantees him his European Tour card for next year.
Els, the world number two collected the winner's cheque for €530,000 and could earn three times that figure in the space of seven days if he can successfully defend his Open title.
The victory maintains Els' remarkable form 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.
Beginning the day with a five-shot lead, Els dropped only his third shot of the week on the second hole, three-putting from long range, and a birdie from playing partner Clarke on the next reduced the gap to three shots.
Clarke could have piled on even more pressure on the fifth after a superb approach to 10 feet while Els found a greenside bunker, but the world number two got up and down for par and Clarke missed his birdie putt.
Els took full advantage of his reprieve on the next hole with his first birdie of the day, and another on the ninth while Clarke bogeyed saw the 33-year-old re-establish his five-shot cushion.
Price briefly closed the gap to four shots with a birdie at the 10th, but Els responded again with a birdie of his own on the 11th.
That was effectively that and the focus switched to the battle for second place. Price looked well in control until Clarke birdied the 15th and 16th, and both had putts for outright second on the 18th, Price missing from just four feet and Clarke from 15.