From controversy to farce and ultimately to raw courage, the 128th British Open covered a remarkable sweep of emotions before Paul Lawrie captured the title in extraordinary circumstances here at Carnoustie yesterday. He did it in a play-off against the 1997 champion, Justin Leonard, and the hapless Frenchman Jean Van de Velde, who had earlier squandered his chance in heartbreaking fashion.

So, after a six-over-par aggregate of 290 and figures of level par for the four play-off holes, Lawrie became the first champion, born and living in Scotland, since Willie Auchterlonie way back in 1893. Tommy Armour, though Scottish born, was a naturalised American when he won at Carnoustie in 1931, while the 1985 champion, Sandy Lyle, was English-born of Scottish parents.

Ten strokes off the lead in the eighth-last pairing of the day, Lawrie posted the clubhouse target after a best-of-the-day final round of 67. But he didn't dare hope it could give him anything more than one of the minor placings. Indeed he said at the time: "I'm a couple of shots too many, but I'm really happy with what I've done."

Three hours later, he was honest enough to admit: "I can't believe this has happened. No way did I think I could win, but I managed it somehow."

A measure of his achievement is that he has broken an American stranglehold on the world's greatest championship since John Daly triumphed at St Andrews in 1995. And he became the first player since Kel Nagle in 1960, to win this title before first having had a tournament breakthrough on US soil.

And he did it by covering golf's most treacherous 17th and 18th holes in a stunning aggregate of three under par: his finish to the championship proper was birdie, par, and in the play-off he crushed the opposition by playing the same two holes in birdie, birdie.

Indeed the final hole was executed in a manner worthy of such a coveted prize. After splitting the fairway, Lawrie had the courage to play the shot of the championship, a 221-yard four-iron which came to rest within four feet of the hole. And there wasn't the hint of nerves as he stroked the ball into the cup for a closing three.

Yet even the 30-year-old knew he should never have got the chance. Standing on the 72nd tee, Van de Velde was three under par and three strokes clear of his closest challengers after Leonard, in the previous two-ball, had finished with a bogey by hitting his second into the serpentine Barry Burn.

But where a bogey, or even a double-bogey, seemed an eminently attainable objective, he crumbled to a wretched seven while onlookers almost squirmed with embarrassment at his torment. For 17 holes yesterday, he had shouldered the pressures with remarkable calm, but at the climactic moment, the magnitude of the occasion overwhelmed him.

"I had 185 yards to the green and the lie was so perfect that I felt I had to hit a two-iron," he said with admirable good humour afterwards. "Maybe hitting that shot for the British Open was too much for me, but there are worse things in life. Next time I hit a wedge you'll all say I am a coward and you'll forgive me."

Craig Parry had a spectacular tumble. The Australian was tied for the lead with Van de Velde at two over par when they left the green at the short eighth. And he led the championship on his own when the Frenchman bogeyed the 11th.

But at the next, Parry ran up a crippling, triple-bogey seven when he went from rough on the right to rough on the left and was eventually through the green in four, before taking three more to get down. Two holes later, Van de Velde had opened up a two-stroke lead after a two-putt birdie on the 14th.

Leonard reached the turn in 35 - one under par - before three-putting the 10th for a bogey. More serious, however, was a bogey at the 15th, where he was short of the target in two. And his chance seemed to have disappeared when he was in the Burn at the last, for a bogey.

Lawrie was removed from all this drama while carding six birdies in the company of Patrik Sjoland. The most important of these was a 20footer at the 17th, which he followed with a brilliant up and down from a bunker on the last, where he sank a four-footer for par.

As a chilly, overcast day drew to a close, rain added to the discomfiture of the attendance of 32,000 when the four-hole aggregate play-off, unique to this championship, got under way. Starting on the 15th, it seemed like a continuation of the Van de Velde farce of the 72nd hole, when all three players drove into trouble down the left.

Almost predictably, the Frenchman came off worst, by taking a penalty drop on the way to a double-bogey six. All three bogeyed the short 16th which means that Lawrie and Leonard were level on two over par, one ahead of Van de Velde, on the 17th tee. Here, Lawrie struck a telling blow with a two-iron approach, followed by a 15-foot birdie putt.

Though Van de Velde had also birdied the 17th from 18 feet, the Scot held a priceless, one-shot lead going down the last. And there was rich irony in the Frenchman's closing bogey which would have made such a huge difference, 90 minutes earlier.

An even greater irony was to be found in the fiercely demanding course, which brought widespread, scathing criticism against Carnoustie greenkeeper John Philp and the R and A championship committee. Little could they have imagined that while frustrating the leading American challengers, they would open the door for a remarkable, home triumph.

Throughout its rich history, the Royal and Ancient game has rarely witnessed happenings of such great moment.