“I feel absolutely awesome,” said Lynn, who revealed he had allowed the occasion to get to him on the penultimate hole as he realised he was heading down the 18th with a two-shot lead.

“I was getting a bit carried away going down 17 and there was a tear in my eye and I had to pull myself together, which I did because I had to finish the job off.

“You have got to make key putts and some went for me today. There were a couple out there that Greenie could have made and it just changes the whole thing.

“You just have to make those crucial putts at the time and then hang on.”

Lynn began the day three shots behind overnight leader Green, who opened with a birdie to go 16 under only for Lynn responded by doing the same at the par four second to restore the gap to three shots with a three at the next.

But the deficit was soon down to two when the leader bogeyed the par three fifth – his first dropped shot in 30 holes.

Birdies at seven and nine put Lynn level at 15 under, although but failed to take advantage at the 11th where the pair both found greenside sand and left their bunker shots too short to drop back to 14 under.

Paul McGinley, meanwhile, had made his way to 11 under – within three of the lead – after birdies at the second and third for a bogey-free outward nine of 33.

That score could have been much better as at the fifth and the eighth he missed makeable puts by just an inch.

Andrew Raitt, who also made two birdies in going to the turn at 30, dropped a shot at the 11th but then eagled the par five 12th to go to 11 under.

McGinley’s eagle putt on the 12th went close enough for him to make birdie and move to within two shots of the lead at 12 under.

Green let another opportunity slip at the 12th when he missed the green with his second shot, chipped past the flag and into the fringe and missed a 15-footer back for birdie

Lynn could have taken the outright lead but his eight-foot birdie putt lipped out, while McGinley birdied the 14th but then dropped back to 12 under at the short 15th.

The 14th proved a pivotal hole for the leaders as Green was through the back of the green and could only make par after his chip horse-shoed out while Lynn pitched to six feet for birdie.

Raitt dropped out of the running after a lost ball on 17 cost him a triple-bogey seven.

Lynn found trouble in the trees to the right of the 16th fairway but escaped with a 15ft par putt while Green found the greenside bunker and bogeyed to make the lead two strokes in Lynn’s favour.

He faced that deficit going down the last and although he put his drive in the left-hand rough, Green did the same.

Lynn made birdie to finish 16 under, Green made par and a maiden Tour title - and a cheque for £132,343 – was on its way to Stoke.

Ryder Cup hopeful McGinley finished joint second at 13 under after a 65, which equated to 104,225 very useful points towards his bid to make the team for Oakland Hills.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, another Ryder Cup hopeful, shot a 67, including an eagle three at the 12th to go with birdies at the second, 11th and 18th and only two bogeys, the sixth and eighth.

“It was a bit of disappointment that I didn’t quite do what I wanted to do but today was a case of what could have been,” he said.

“But I was happy with the way I handled things today, it was good to have another solid Sunday.”

Ian Poulter, who started the day five under, finished it five under after a par 70 round of an eagle and four birdies and three bogeys and a double-bogey six.

Surrey’s David Howell, another looking to strengthen his grip on a Ryder Cup place, saved his best round of the week until last with a 67 to finish two under.