The golfing gods work in mysterious ways.

Yesterday at Castle Stuart, they looked down on Marc Warren and Jeev Milkha Singh and, in what seemed like the blink of eye, judgment was passed.

For Warren, the closing hour of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open was fraught with anguish and would ultimately lead to crushing disappointment. For Singh, sitting in the players' lounge watching events unravel following a purposeful 67 which had kept his title hopes alive, there would be glory.

As hopes of a first home victory in 13 years evaporated over the closing four holes, Singh was thrust back into action and would go on to plunder his fourth European Tour title in a play-off with Francesco Molinari after finding himself in a tie at the top on a 17-under-par 271. With the reward of a place in the Open also his, it really was a case of the icing on the cake for the 40-year-old from Chandigarh.

"I was just enjoying a cup of tea and some chocolate cake and watching it on television and suddenly I got excited," said Singh, who clinched the win with a putt of 15-feet for birdie in the sudden-death shoot-out with Molinari. "I think the golfing gods have been kind this day."

Warren was certainly looking up to the heavens in bewilderment as his challenge came to grief during a crippling stretch on the run-in which provided an engrossing end to a compelling final day of action in the Highlands.

After three days of benign conditions, the wind finally grew in strength and the Castle Stuart links, blitzed by birdies during the previous 54-holes, could finally bare its teeth and bite back. Singh, five shots off the pace after three rounds, harnessed the conditions superbly and his birdie on the very first hole illustrated perfectly just how much the game had changed. He had been hitting a driver and a sand wedge into the green of the 439-yarder. Yesterday he lashed a driver and then a three-iron, which trundled to within two-feet for an early birdie.

Singh, the first Indian to qualify for the European Tour, would go on to cover his opening six holes in four-under as he made menacing advances up the standings. His superbly assembled five-under card gave him the clubhouse lead on 17-under but, by that time, Warren was making his move.

Lurking two behind frontrunner Molinari at the start of the day, the Scot signalled his title intent with a brace of birdies at the first and second before a putt of 20 feet on the 10th sparked a telling thrust of three successive birdies.

When Molinari, aiming to emulate the Scottish Open win of his brother Edoardo in 2010, leaked a shot on the 12th, Warren was three clear at 20-under before the wheels began to shoogle. A wayward approach into the crowd on 15 found a trampled lie but, after chipping out to 25 feet, he putted up to four-feet, put his next putt past the hole and racked up a ghastly double-bogey 6.

Things went from bad to worse on the 16th, when he plunged his drive into the gorse, took a penalty drop and ended up with a bogey, before chipping his second shot on the par-3 17th 20 feet past the flag and dropping another shot.

Needing to birdie the last to barge his way back into a play-off, Warren could only muster a par and finished third with Alex Noren. It may have been a bitter pill to swallow for Warren but, for a man who lost his full European Tour card at the end of 2010, it was washed down with perspective. And maybe something stronger.

"This won't haunt me, I might just need a little bit of help to sleep tonight," he said with a smile after earning £140,750 and moving up to 41st on the Race to Dubai. "Losing your card is much worse than this."

Singh, meanwhile, banked £416,660 and ended a run of four years without a tour win following a spell battling with a back injury. Having earned the Padma Shri – India's equivalent of a knighthood – for his services to the game, Singh is now the King of the Castle in Scotland. "This was a true test of golf and going out today against these players and winning makes me feel that I can win against the best of them," he said.

Fife's Peter Whiteford posted his best finish of a season of toil with a tie for eighth on 274, while Martin Laird, three off the lead overnight, slipped back into a share of 16th with a 74 for 276. He was joined on that mark by Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington and Phil Mickelson, who admitted his Open chances have "improved" after emerging largely unscathed from a good buffeting from the elements.