Overnight leader Brier started the day on six under par holding a one-shot advantage over playing partner Hend and had extended it to two by the turn, as some beautiful putting brought four birdies to go with the minor setback of a bogey at the fourth as the Austrian went out in 32 to move to nine under.

Hend fell further behind with consecutive bogeys at the 10th and 11th, while Brier produced a run of eight pars before he birdied the last to finish 10 under par and add the event, co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours, to the BA-CA Golf Open the 38-year-old won in Vienna last June.

McDowell could not get anything going in his final round as the Northern Irishman ended the day in a tie for second on five under par.

The 27-year-old looked set to mount a last-day charge as he closed within two of Brier after a birdie at the par-four second, but could not take advantage of a number of opportunities before a four at the last completed a round of 69.

McDowell finished level with Hend after the Australian birdied the 18th for a level-par final round of 71, and McLardy as the South African picked up two birdies and a bogey in a round of 70.

England's David Griffiths sealed a second consecutive top-10 finish after claiming a tie for third place at the Portuguese Open in Estoril two weeks ago.

The 26-year-old shot a final round of 71 to end one under par for the tournament, while compatriot Miles Tunnicliff recorded an impressive 66 to end the week level par.

After his victory Brier said he was delighted to have now tasted success outside of his homeland after capturing a maiden title in Vienna in June of last year.

"It makes me feel an even better player as previously I had home advantage and the crowd were behind me," he said. "It was the next step."

Brier's final round was built on the back of some excellent long putting from the outset and he felt that proved the difference all week.

"The start was really important," he added.

"Those first three putts got me into a rhythm and I didn't look back. The start calmed me down a bit.

"I didn't hit a fairway until the eighth but I holed some tight putts. That was the key. I didn't really hit it close this week but made a lot of distance putts on the green."

Meanwhile McDowell said he could still take plenty of positives from his first tournament since ending the Johnny Walker Classic in a tie for 60th place at the beginning of March.

"I would have liked to have put Markus (Brier) under a bit of pressure," he said.

"I didn't quite hit it close enough and kept leaving myself 15 to 20 foot putts instead of ones of 10 feet. I just couldn't get it going in the right direction.

"But I hit the golf ball lovely today so I can't really complain.

"To have five weeks off and come straight back with a good finish, that's pretty pleasing."

The putter was to prove McDowell's nemesis during the final round as despite a number of opportunities, he did not pick up another shot until the final hole after a run of 15 straight pars.

"I birdied the second and had some good chances after that," he added

"But I missed a 10-footer on the fifth, which I though I had made, and then three-putted the eighth, which was a killer.

"It was a frustrating week in some ways but I hit the ball progressively better as the week went on, so that was good.

"I am doing so many good things and I am very happy with my game, so I can't be disappointed."

Collated final-round scores and totals:

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Par 71)

(x) denotes amateurs

274 Markus Brier (Aut) 72 68 67 67

279 Graeme McDowell 70 70 70 69, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 72 70 67 70, Scott Hend (Aus) 71 67 70 71

280 Richard Sterne (Rsa) 70 71 69 70

281 Peter O'Malley (Aus) 74 71 67 69, Raphael Jacquelin

(Fra) 68 67 75 71

282 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 71 74 72 65, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 73 68 71 70

283 David Griffiths 72 71 69 71

284 Miles Tunnicliff 73 74 71 66, Brett Rumford (Aus) 72 72 70 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 72 70 71

285 Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 72 74 76 63, Unho Park (Aus) 70 74 72 69, Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 72 70 71, Garry Houston 71 73 70 71, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 72 71 72

286 Simon Wakefield 75 69 77 65, Simon Yates 73 66 77 70, Scott Strange (Aus) 74 68 73 71

287 Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 71 74 69

288 Marko Ilonen (Fin) 73 73 74 68, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 75 71 73 69, Graeme Storm 73 74 70 71, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 74 70 72 72, Tony Carolan (Aus) 75 72 69 72, Gonzalez Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 71 72 71 74, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 72 74 68 74, Andres Romero (Arg) 71 67 73 77

289 Benn Barham 74 71 75 69, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 76 71 73 69, Yasin Ali 70 75 74 70, Ter-chang Wang (Tpe) 73 73 71 72, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 70 70 76 73, Stephen Gallacher 73 72 70 74, Lian-wei Zhiang (Chn) 76 69 70 74, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 72 71 76

290 Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 73 72 76 69, Damien McGrane 71 69 76 74, Gary Murphy 74 69 73 74, Adam Blyth (Aus) 70 67 76 77, Peter Lawrie 72 71 70 77

291 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 75 72 77 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 74 72 76 69, Gary Emerson 72 70 79 70, Bryan Saltus (USA) 74 71 72 74, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 74 71 75, Stephen Dodd (Wal) 74 67 74 76, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 72 73 76

292 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 73 76 71 Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 76 70 74 72, Marcus Both (Aus) 74 73 73 72, Adam Groom (Aus) 73 72 74 73

293 Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 73 73 76 71

294 Andrew Butterfield 77 70 75 72, Richard Lee (Nzl) 70 71 81 72, Edward Loar (USA) 71 74 77 72, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 75 76 72, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 74 70 74 76, Mahal Pearce (Nzl) 73 72 71 78

295 Zhi-feng Qiu (Chn) 70 75 80 70, Kang-chun Wu (Chn) 75 71 79 70, Gui-ming Liao (Chn) 74 71 77 73, Wen-tang Lin (Tpe) 73 74 75 73, Gary Rusnak (USA) 69 76 76 74, Ming-jie Huang (Chn) 68 76 72 79

296 Gareth Davies 74 73 76 73, Kane Webber (Aus) 72 73 74 77

297 Mark Pilkington 72 75 74 76

298 Chris Rodgers 75 71 77 75, Tom Whitehouse 73 72 75 78

299 (x) Ren Han (Chn) 74 72 80 73, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 77 69 71 82