Felipe Aguilar ended an unbelievable final round at the POSTBANK Challenge presented by Marcel Siem by taking the title at the second extra hole of a sudden-death play-off with Scotland’s Andrew McArthur and England’s Paul Waring.

The Chilean, who moves to the top of the Challenge Tour Rankings following his maiden victory, was five strokes behind with eight holes to play at the Golfclub Mülheim an der Ruhr but staged a miraculous recovery, playing the back nine in just 30 shots to force the tournament to extra holes.

Even before that amazing play-off, where McArthur effectively handed Aguilar the title by missing a short par putt, the three leaders had provided the super crowds at the Golfclub Mülheim an der Ruhr with an unforgettable final round.

Waring, the overnight leader by two shots, made a perfect start with a birdie at the first hole only to run up a potentially disastrous triple bogey seven at the second, which McArthur birdied to surge into the lead.

The Scot picked up another shot on the fifth and further extended his lead with birdies at the par five ninth and then the tenth.

Four under for the day and flying with a three stroke lead and eight holes to play, it looked like there could be only one winner as the last group turned into the home stretch, but Aguilar and Waring had other ideas.

The Chilean started his stunning fightback with a birdie on the 12th and then proceeded to go berserk, birdieing five of the next six holes to haul himself into a tie for the lead on 18 under par.

All the while, Waring was staging a brilliant recovery after that horrible triple bogey seven. Having birdied the ninth, the 22 year old then picked up strokes on the 12th, 15th, 16th and 17th to join his playing partners at the top of the leaderboard.

And so to the 18th, where three perfect drives left the three men in range of the tough back-left pin. Waring was the first to play, pulling his approach and landing some 40 feet from the hole. Aguilar then landed 25 feet from the cup, before McArthur left himself 20 feet from glory.

All three birdie putts had a chance, but, somehow fittingly, it would take sudden-death to separate them after such a thrilling final round battle where Aguilar carded 65, McArthur a 66 and Waring a 68.

Waring fell out of the play-off at the first hole after making bogey to Aguilar and McArthur’s pair of par fours, which meant the Chilean and the Scot made their way back to the 18th to try and find a winner.

Both players hit fine drives, with Aguilar then smashing a fine approach to 15 feet. McArthur’s second flew the green before rebounding off an advertising board to leave the former Scottish Amateur champion a chance to chip and putt for par.

He played a fine pitch to two feet, and when Aguilar’s birdie attempt lipped out, the play-off seemed destined for a third round. It was not to be, though, as McArthur pulled his short par putt to hand Aguilar the title.

“I really didn’t expect Andrew to miss that because he had been so solid all day,” said Aguilar.

“But I am just so happy to have won. I have been close a few times this year but it finally all clicked out there for me today and it feels great to win and be back on top of the Rankings.”