SUTTON COLDFIELD (England), May 11: Britain’s Paul Casey climbed to number two on the European order of merit on Sunday when he claimed his third title, the Benson and Hedges International Open, by four strokes.

Casey, 25, in a three-way tie for the lead overnight, carded a final-round one-under-par 71 for an 11-under-par 277 total, well clear of tournament favourite Padraig Harrington of Ireland, who shot a disappointing 75 to end as runner-up.

Scot Paul Lawrie holed in one at the seventh to give himself a chance of a sixth title, including his 1999 British Open title.

But he found water on the last to fall away and share third place, a further stroke back with New Zealand’s Stephen Scahill and Dutchman Rolf Muntz.

Leading final round scores (Britain unless stated):

277 — Paul Casey 71, 69, 66, 71.

281 — Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 67, 68, 71, 75.

282 — Paul Lawrie 71, 72, 70, 69; Rolf Muntz (Netherlands) 70, 71, 69, 72; Stephen Scahill (New Zealand) 71, 70, 65, 76.

284 — Richard S. Johnson (Sweden) 73, 68, 79, 64.

285 — David Park 72, 70, 74, 69; Brian Davis 70, 74, 69, 72; Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 68, 69, 70, 78.

286 — Matthew Blackey 71, 76, 69, 70; Nick O’Hern (Australia) 73, 74, 68, 71; Simon Khan 72, 70, 71, 73; David Dixon 66, 78, 68, 74.

287 — Klas Eriksson (Sweden) 75, 72, 73, 67; Bradley Dredge 73, 69, 72, 73; Jose Manuel Lara (Spain) 72, 68, 73, 74.

288 — Arjun Atwal (India) 71, 73, 76, 68; Soren Hansen (Denmark) 77, 70, 70, 71; Jamie Spence 72, 71, 72, 73; Jean Van de Velde (France) 75, 70, 70, 73; Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 70, 72, 70, 76.

289 — Jamie Elson 71, 69, 78, 71; Robert Rock 71, 73, 72, 73.—Reuters