Lawrence Tynes, the most successful Scot in National Football League history, has announced his playing days are over at the age of 36.

The Greenock-born kicker, who won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, has made the decision to start "the next phase" of his life. He bows out as the only player in NFL history to kick two overtime game-winning field goals to send teams to the Super Bowl.

Tynes' memorable kick for the Giants on a frozen Lambeau Field in 2008 against the Green Bay Packers - after he had missed two field goals - made him a household name in the United States. The Giants went on to beat New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Tynes then repeated the feat four years later in the NFC Championship game against San Francisco 49ers to send the Giants to another Super Bowl, where they defeated the Patriots in the title game once again.

Tynes was also second-top scorer in the NFL that season but left the Giants at the end of the campaign as a free agent. He appeared to leave sporting success behind too, signing for Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2013 but leaving without playing a game after succumbing to a toe infection during the summer training camp. It was an acrimonious split since the kicker had been placed on a non-football-related injury list - a decision which left him ineligible for certain benefits.

He has stepped back from the game with his head held high, though. "I have experienced the top of the mountain and also been to the gutter," said Tynes. "To be one of 32 people in the world who gets to call themselves an NFL kicker is an honour that will live with me forever."