Francesco Molinari finally returned to winning ways - and did it with one of the finest rounds of his career.
The Italian Ryder Cup star produced a best-of-the-week 65, seven under par, to turn a four-stroke deficit into a three-shot win at the Spanish Open in Seville.
Molinari was ranked 14th in the world when he beat Lee Westwood at the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai nearly 18 months ago, but this was his first success since then.
While he celebrated his third European Tour victory, however, overnight leader Simon Dyson was left to reflect on a 76 that dealt a big blow to his hopes of a Ryder Cup debut in September.
Nobody in the top 50 scored worse on the final day, Dyson falling all the way to joint 12th - and that after starting with two birdies.
Dane Soren Kjeldsen and Spaniards Alejandro Canizares and Pablo Larrazabal finished joint second, but Molinari out-played them all to take the first prize of more than £271,000.
What made it all the more special for him was that the tournament was first staged 100 years ago and came just before the first anniversary of three-time winner Seve Ballesteros' death.
"I knew I was playing well. I just needed some putts to drop," said the 29-year-old, who moves back into the world's top 30 as he heads back across the Atlantic for this week's Players Championship.
"I was also hoping the other guys would not go too far under par and everything worked out perfectly."
He is still not in a qualifying position for this year's Ryder Cup, but added: "I just have to play the same golf a few more weeks and hopefully I will be there.
"Everybody is desperate to make the team, but unfortunately for us there are only 12 spots.
"It's going to be hard - there are a lot of great players in Europe at the moment."
In much easier conditions - the first three rounds were played in wind and rain - Dyson made quick amends for his closing double bogey on Saturday by sinking an 18-foot putt on the first and then holing out from sand at the next.
But it all started to go wrong for the York golfer again when he ran up a six at the long fifth and further bogeys came on the seventh, eighth, 13th, 15th and 17th.
In contrast Molinari birdied three of the first five, then took the outright lead by two-putting the 545-yard ninth to complete an outward 32.
He picked up another shot from 10 feet at the 10th, almost holed for eagle from over 50 feet on the 13th and converted a 15-foot chance on the next.
"The first leaderboard I saw where I was leading was on 12, but they had a few more birdie chances than me and so I knew I needed a couple more."
It was comfortable in the end, though. Kjeldsen, winner of the Andalucian Open on the course in 2009, mixed three birdies with three bogeys on the back nine, while Larrazabal and the fast-finishing Canizares were too far back.
All week the overnight leaders appeared cursed. Shaun Micheel followed his opening 67 with a 77, then Gregory Bourdy went from 66 to 80.
Dyson's score was not as bad as those, but it probably felt worse.
Collated final round scores and totals, Real Club de Golf de Sevilla, Seville, Spain
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
280 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 71 74 65
283 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 70 71 71, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 74 72 68 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 71 72 69 71
285 Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 73 72 70 70, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 68 72 73 72
286 Gareth Maybin 73 75 71 67, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 72 72 71 71, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 70 70 76 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 74 73 72 67, Graeme Storm 70 71 74 71
287 Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 72 72 72, Richard Green (Aus) 76 72 71 68, Simon Dyson 71 69 71 76, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 74 72 69
288 Robert Rock 68 72 76 72, Richie Ramsay 73 71 77 67, Anders Hansen (Den) 72 73 76 67, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 75 72 74 67, Peter Lawrie 71 73 71 73
289 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 74 73 69 73, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 66 80 70, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 69 74 73, Lee Slattery 74 71 74 70
290 Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 75 72 70 73, Matthew Baldwin 69 73 75 73
291 Sam Hutsby 70 73 73 75, Gary Orr 70 72 77 72, Romain Wattel (Fra) 73 74 72 72, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 72 73 75 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 73 75 73
292 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 73 74 71 74, Alex Haindl (Rsa) 72 75 74 71, Danny Willett 68 73 79 72, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 75 68 73 76, James Morrison 71 76 77 68, Marc Warren 72 74 74 72, Shaun Micheel (USA) 67 77 73 75, Simon Thornton 73 73 74 72
293 George Murray 74 74 73 72, Richard Bland 73 71 77 72, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 73 73 77 70, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 74 73 76 70
294 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 72 75 75 72, Borja Etchart (Spa) 73 74 72 75
295 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 75 72 75 73, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 73 72 77 73, Craig Lee 71 76 76 72, Chris Wood 72 73 76 74, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 76 77 71
296 Kenneth Ferrie 72 74 81 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 74 74 78 70
297 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 71 76 76 74, Jack Hiluta 72 73 81 71, James Kingston (Rsa) 74 68 78 77, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 76 72 78 71, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 74 74 74 75, Johan Edfors (Swe) 74 74 78 71
298 Andy Sullivan 73 75 76 74, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 73 74 74 77
299 Phillip Price 73 73 78 75
300 Mark F Haastrup (Den) 75 73 75 77, Bradley Dredge 72 75 80 73
301 Manuel Quiros (Spa) 76 72 80 73
302 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 76 70 79 77
304 Raul Quiros (Spa) 73 73 83 75
306 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 75 72 85 74, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 73 74 77 82
