Alex Noren has won the 2016 British Masters title at The Grove.

The 34-year-old claimed his third European Tour crown of the year by two shots from Bernd Wiesberger, with tournament ambassador Lee Westwood one further back in third.

Following his victory which secured the £500,000 first prize in the Luke Donald-hosted and Sky Sports-backed event, Noren admitted he struggled in the middle of his round and had to grind the victory out.

"I had a tough time with the distances off my wedges and irons in the middle there and my caddie stepped in," he said. "You've got to play the shots this and this way, and he helped me out a lot with that.

"Sometimes you're a little blind yourself. You think you hit a good shot but it comes up short, and you never want to blame yourself but he kind of told me what was going on. Because we work a lot, he helps me out on the driving range a lot as well.

"Just trying to get it together and then the last three-and-a-half holes. I managed to play the best I played all week, so I'm really happy and proud about that."

This year's Scottish Open and European Masters champion held a three-shot advantage going into the final round over Richard Bland, but heavy morning rain led to play being suspended for a couple of hours and the format of the last day being changed to two-tee starts.

Noren set out his stall from the outset with birdies on the first and second and by the seventh his lead had stretched to four shots after Bland bogeyed.

It was threatening to turn into a procession at this stage, but then the champion offered the field a chink of light with a bogey on eight. Bland quickly rectified his dropped shot with a birdie on the same hole and the lead was down to two.

That advantage was cut further to one shot when Noren bogeyed 11, leaving Bland, Wiesberger and Tommy Fleetwood as his closest challengers at that stage.

Fleetwood was the first to falter with a bogey on 13, but then came the first of the crucial par fives in the closing stretch at 15.

Noren made birdie to move to 17-under, as did Wiesberger to remain one adrift, but Bland could only make par. His challenge was to end soon after with dropped shots on 16 and 17.

The Austrian was unable to land a blow on the next two holes as Noren also played par golf to remain one clear, before Wiesberger's challenge effectively ended with a wayward second into the sand on the 18th. Although he found the green, the 31-year-old gave himself too much to do with his birdie putt, meaning Noren only need to par the last to be champion.

But he did better than that. A superb lofted third shot from 60 yards landed stone dead and he rolled in a straightforward close-range putt to finish with a round of 69 to add to the 67 and two 65s he shot previously.

Westwood was always a little shy of getting into a position to really challenge Noren, but his third round of 67 this week was rewarded with third place after he birdied the last.

The victory has lifted Noren up to fourth in the Race to Dubai standings behind Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson and leader Danny Willett.

The victory also means the first three-time winner of this European Tour season could move into the top-20 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career. He is currently placed 26th.