St Omer Open: Sweden's Joakim Backstrom claimed the Saint-Omer Open title and a one-year European Tour exemption when he beat Britain's Paul Dwyer in a play-off yesterday.

The pair had finished a stroke ahead of the field on four-under-par 280, and Backstrom, who had birdied the last to get into the shoot-out, then took the title with a par at the first extra hole after Dwyer missed a two-foot putt to bogey.

In fact Dwyer missed two crucial putts, one on the final green and another in the play-off, to hand victory in northern France to Backstrom.

Dwyer watched a 12-foot birdie attempt on the 18th slide narrowly past which would have given him the outright lead at five under.

He had to settle for a round of 68, and when Backstrom shot a 70 to also finish four under the pair headed to the first at this co-sanctioned event between the European and Challenge Tours.

Dwyer dragged a two-foot par putt wide and the 27-year-old Swede, ranked 810 in the world, claimed the €66,600 first prize and a one-year main tour exemption from inside that range.

"This means the world to me. I have guaranteed starts until the end of 2006 and I can start to plan and play in the really big events," said the Swede.

St Helens-born Dwyer went to the turn in 34 with birdies at the fourth and eighth, and two more followed at the 12th and 17th, with his only dropped shot of the day at the par-five 14th before he almost snatched it at the last.

He then had to sit for more than 90 minutes but only Backstrom matched his total as the strong English challenge, led by Surrey's James Heath, faded away.

The 22-year-old Nick Faldo protégé finished in a tie for third despite leading by two at six under with five holes to play.

Dwyer headed to the range to begin his preparations for the play-off but discovered there were no balls and so had to resort to a spot of chipping and putting, but he refused to blame that on his near-miss.

"It is tough way to finish. I was in the clubhouse for an hour and a half and was on a massive high when I came in and felt a little jaded on the (first) tee," said Dwyer, who finished fifth in this event in 2002.

"I missed a little putt but that's the way it goes. It is the first time it (a play-off) has ever happened for me so I'll learn from that.

"Obviously it is nerve-wracking, you see people coming in, and there is so much to play for - your tour card for next year."

The tournament swung on the 15th when Heath, with a two-shot lead over his rivals, missed the green on the short side and left himself with an impossible flop shot over a bunker with only eight feet of putting surface to work with.

He finished in the fringe a good 15 feet away, raced his par putt six feet past and missed the return.

Then on the last he again missed the green to the right, duffed his chip and failed to hole a 10-foot par putt to book his place in the play-off.

Heath had gone out in 35 after birdies at the first and ninth and a bogey at the par-four fifth.

Another birdie at the 14th gave him that two-shot cushion before disaster struck at the next.

"I'm extremely disappointed but at the same time I hit bad shots at the wrong time it wasn't anything else," he said.(British unless stated, par 71)

280 - Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 72 70 68 70 (won at first extra hole), Paul Dwyer 73 68 71 68.

281 - Michael Jonzon (Swe) 69 73 71 68, James Heath 70 66 73 72, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 73 70 70 68.

282 - Carl Suneson (Swe) 74 69 65 74, Ben Mason 71 74 70 67, Ross Fisher 70 70 68 74, James Hepworth 69 71 69 73, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 74 69 69 70.

283 - David Dixon 76 69 70 68, Gary Orr 71 71 68 73, Denny Lucas 70 73 71 69, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 68 77 69 69, Miguel Carballo (Arg) 72 69 71 71, Roope Kakko (Fin) 72 71 73 67.

284 - Stephen Browne (Ire) 71 70 71 72, Gary Clark 74 67 73 70, Iain Pyman 72 71 66 75, Sion Bebb 70 72 68 74, Matthew Morris 70 72 72 70, Adam Groom (Aus) 71 70 68 75.

285 - Neil Cheetham 68 76 70 71, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 70 73 73 69, Raphael De Sousa (Swi) 73 70 66 76, Andres Romero (Arg) 71 71 72 71, Mark Mouland 73 71 72 69, Sven Struver (Ger) 73 72 72 68, Tomas Jesus Munoz (Spa) 73 70 71 71.

286 - Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 70 71 71 74, Thomas Nielsen (Den) 72 72 72 70, David Orr 72 73 68 73, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 68 73 75 70, Kyron Sullivan 76 66 69 75, David Higgins (Ire) 75 69 71 71, Cesar Monasterio (Arg) 74 69 72 71.

287 - Oskar Bergman (Swe) 72 73 70 72, Phillip Archer 69 73 72 73, David Dupart (Fra) 71 70 73 73, Craig Williams 69 75 71 72, Raphael Eyraud (Fra) 68 75 73 71, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 74 71 67 75, David Griffiths 70 74 70 73, Ariel Canete (Arg) 72 72 72 71, Gareth Davies 73 72 71 71, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 72 71 72 72, Jamie Little 69 74 73 71, Tom Whitehouse 70 71 74 72.

288 - Ivo Giner (Spa) 69 72 73 74, Julien Quesne (Fra) 75 69 71 73, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 71 71 73 73, Birgir Hafthorsson (Ice) 68 74 69 77, Shaun P Webster 71 68 75 74.

289 - Per Nyman (Swe) 68 74 73 74, Paul Nilbrink (Swe) 73 69 72 75, Knud Storgaard (Den) 72 69 75 73, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 72 70 75 72, Rafael Gomez (Arg) 72 69 72 76.

290 - Jean-Nicolas Billot (Fra) 75 70 73 72, Gabriel Canizares (Spa) 71 72 75 72, Massimo Scarpa (Ita) 71 73 74 72, Matthew Blackey 73 71 76 70, Oliver Whiteley 71 72 75 72.

291 - Carlos De Corral (Spa) 74 71 70 76, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 70 69 78 74, Marcus Higley 73 72 69 77, Garry Houston 72 69 74 76.

292 - Edward Rush 72 73 72 75, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 72 72 75 73, Martin Lemesurier 74 71 80 67, Lionel Alexandre (Fra) 74 71 69 78.

293 - Mattias Nilsson (Swe) 70 75 76 72, Mark Sanders 71 74 72 76.

294 - Jamie Elson 69 73 73 79, Jeff Hall 74 71 76 73.

296 - Michael Kirk (US) 74 68 76 78.

298 - Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 74 71 77 76.