Queensland’s Scott Hend has survived a thunderstorm, a birdie bomb from Nacho Elvira and twice tangled with the trees before claiming the Maybank Championship in dramatic fashion at Saujana Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

Starting the final round three shots adrift of Elvira, Hend went out in 5-under 31 to claim the outright lead at the turn but it was at the 72nd hole where the real drama unfolded over the course of two hours.

Playing the tournament’s final hole in torrential rain and trailing Hend by a single shot, Elvira was just short of the 520-metre par-5 18th in two shots before a clap of thunder rang out just as he played his pitch shot.

With Hend safely on the green, Elvira was facing a birdie putt of some 30 feet when tournament officials called a halt to play as the thunder and lightning intensified at 2.50pm local time.

Play would not resume until 4.30pm at which point Elvira sent the large galleries into raptures by holing his putt for birdie and forcing the tournament into a playoff.

But that’s not where the drama would end.

The big-hitting Hend hit the base of a tree with his tee shot only to see his ball cannon back into the fairway as Elvira’s tee shot came to rest in the fairway bunker.

Hend doubled down on his playoff good fortune by hitting another tree with his second shot but hit his approach shot to around three feet to claim his 15th career title and third on the European Tour.

"Obviously I had a bit of luck on the playoff hole. If you don’t have any luck you won’t win,” Hend said after the win that moves him up inside the top-10 of the Race to Dubai rankings.

“I had the luck today, unfortunately for Nacho. His time will come, he’s going to win. He’s a great player.

"I’m a grinder and a fighter. So is my caddie Tony (Carolan). We both have the same mental attitude.

“It doesn’t matter how old we are, we work hard at what we do. It just takes a bit of luck to win.”

The 45-year-old was full of praise for Elvira, who was also runner-up at last week’s Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, and his putt to force the tournament into a playoff.

"If I was to go out there and hit that putt you would say you would hole it one in 10 times. It was an amazing putt, and in the situation he holed it. All credit to Nacho, it was fantastic,” Hend said.

"I had to get off to a fast start as I was three shots behind. That’s all there was to it.

“I was fortunate enough to turn in 5-under and on the back nine I shot level par. I can’t ask for much more on a Sunday when the golf course is playing quite tricky.

"I felt like I played fantastic on the back nine. I nearly holed a lot of putts, just missing. I just had to keep my head on and stay patient, stay in there. The worst-case scenario was a play-off.”

It was an inauspicious start to the week for Hend who posted on Twitter the roller-coaster he endured in Wednesday’s pro-am, regaling his followers with details that included six lost balls, being stung by a wasp and having two birds relieve themselves on him, adding #cangetbetter.

He began the tournament with a 3-under par round of 69 as fellow Olympian Marcus Fraser enjoyed a share of the lead at 7-under and was 5-under through 36 holes before ramping it up over the weekend with two rounds of 67 to end the week at 15-under par.

Terry Pilkadaris and Lucas Herbert were both under par on Sunday to finish in a tie for 25th while Zach Murray (T41) and Fraser (T48) both dropped down the leaderboard in the final round.

Min Woo Lee was the only other Australian to make the cut in a tie for 51st while Daniel Nisbet and Todd Sinnott both retired after the first round, Sinnott withdrawing after 10 holes of his opening round.