Luke Donald turned on the style again at Wentworth to retain the BMW PGA Championship and grab the world number one spot back from Rory McIlroy.
Donald's sixth victory in the last 15 months makes him only the third player - Sir Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie are the others - to win the European Tour's flagship event two years in a row.
After being caught by Justin Rose four holes into the final round, the 34-year-old put his foot on the accelerator to go clear once more.
Once he had gone three clear with a 25-foot putt at the short 10th, Donald, the most reliable player in the game right now with the possible exception of America's man of the moment Jason Dufner, never looked like losing.
Playing with supreme confidence, he ended up taking the first prize of almost £600,000 by four strokes from Rose and former Open champion Paul Lawrie with an accomplished closing 68 and 15-under-par total of 273.
Only a top-eight finish had been required for him to move to number one for the fourth time once McIlroy had missed the cut - by a shocking eight shots - on Friday.
That meant his latest success was never going to hit the heights of drama of last year, when he dethroned Lee Westwood by beating him in a play-off.
That was the start of Donald's first reign, one which was to continue until this March, but he and McIlroy have now changed places six times since then.
On this week's evidence there is a gulf between them, but the 23-year-old Northern Irishman, who has crashed out early from his last two tournaments, now heads back to America for what he hopes is the start of a big comeback.
Donald will also be at the Memorial tournament in Ohio starting on Thursday, but it is the US Open in San Francisco on June 14-17 that his sights are now on. Play like this and a first major will finally be his.
This was his first successful defence of a title and he said: "What a great one to do it at. This is our biggest event on the European Tour.
"To come and defend and get back to number one is very sweet indeed.
"I was just trying to keep my head down and plug away. I was swinging well and I've putted well all week.
"I just needed to settle down a bit. This is a big week and I felt some of the pressure.
"After the fourth I didn't give him (Rose) another hole where he was teeing off first other than the 18th. I got the job done.
"I take a great amount of satisfaction. It means I am doing the right things - the hard work is paying off and I have a great team around me."
Asked what was next on his wish list he said: "Obviously win majors. I feel I am getting closer. Every time I win it adds to my confidence.
"These victories are key to bringing that confidence into the majors."
Lawrie hit a best-of-the-day 66 to catch Rose and the 43-year-old Scot is now closing in on securing a return to the Ryder Cup after a gap of 13 years.
Controversially he has chosen not to go to the US Open, preferring to stay on this side of the Atlantic to pursue his cup goal.
Rose, round in 69, would have been second on his own but for missing a five-foot birdie putt on the last, but with a world championship win earlier this season he feels it could be a special season too.
As for the difference in the final round he said: "Luke's putter really. He buried a lot of putts in the middle of the round and there were no loose shots coming down the stretch."
Rose, two behind at the start, was level when he birdied the long fourth and Donald three-putted for bogey.
In went putts of 14 and 18 feet at the sixth and seventh, though, and then came what seemed at the time like the killer blow on the 10th.
The gap went to five at the 16th when Donald sank a nine-footer and Rose, plugged in sand for two, bogeyed.
First Lawrie and then Rose cut the difference to four, but it was all too late to revive their title hopes with Donald in such impressive form.
Rose, so close now to taking a place in the world's top five for the first time, would certainly have settled for second on Thursday.
He feared he might have to pull out just before the start because of dizziness and spent an hour with a doctor.
Lawrie, who reached a high of 29th in the world back in 2000, could now move back into the top 30 only 14 months after he stood 272nd - and for the first time he can call himself Scotland's top player.
When he won The Open from 159th in the world in 1999, Colin Montgomerie was riding high at fifth in the rankings.
He is up to second in the Ryder Cup points race and said: "You're never unhappy when you shoot 66, but really it should have been a few less.
"When you get on a bit of a run the confidence goes up and right now it's probably never been better.''
On not entering for the US Open, he added: "I made the decision a long time ago that it was better for my schedule.
"I knew some people wouldn't like it, but it's the best for me.''
Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour BMW PGA Championship, Wentworth GC, Surrey, England
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
273 Luke Donald 68 68 69 68
277 Justin Rose 67 71 69 70, Paul Lawrie 69 71 71 66
280 Peter Lawrie 66 71 72 71
281 Branden Grace (Rsa) 69 69 73 70
282 Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 68 72 71
283 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 70 74 71, Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 73 70 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 71 67 76 69
284 David Drysdale 66 70 78 70, Ian Poulter 71 73 69 71, David Higgins 70 70 74 70, James Morrison 68 64 81 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 67 70 77 70
285 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 69 76 69, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 70 74 73, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 69 76 71 69
286 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 71 79 67, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 68 70 74 74, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 68 77 71
287 Robert Rock 68 76 74 69, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 74 73 70, Paul Streeter 71 74 74 68, Julien Quesne (Fra) 74 71 72 70, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 70 71 76 70, George Coetzee (Rsa) 68 77 76 66
288 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 70 74 70 74, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 72 76 70, Marc Warren 68 76 72 72, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 71 70 76 71, Federico Colombo (Ita) 69 74 71 74, Simon Khan 71 74 70 73
289 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 67 77 74, Richard Finch 76 67 74 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 67 73 78 71, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 73 74 70, Paul McGinley 73 71 73 72, Lee Westwood 70 75 70 74
290 Damien McGrane 71 72 75 72, Gareth Maybin 70 70 76 74, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 70 76 73, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 69 73 76 72
291 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 67 75 75 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 74 70 78 69, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 74 69 77 71, Danny Willett 69 71 79 72, Kenneth Ferrie 68 74 77 72, Scott Jamieson 68 75 75 73
292 Chris Wood 73 71 80 68, Tommy Fleetwood 72 73 72 75, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 70 76 77, Alex Cejka (Ger) 75 70 76 71
293 Jamie Donaldson 67 73 77 76, Pablo Martin (Spa) 69 70 76 78, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 68 73 83 69
294 Christian Nilsson (Swe) 74 70 77 73, Sam Little 72 73 76 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 72 71 78 73, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 72 79 72
295 Bradley Dredge 71 72 78 74
296 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 71 81 73, Steve Webster 69 74 81 72, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 70 79 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 75 67 83 71
297 Richard Green (Aus) 72 73 79 73, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 75 77 75, Oscar Floren (Swe) 74 71 80 72
298 Shane Lowry 71 74 79 74, Ben Curtis (USA) 70 75 81 72
301 Brett Rumford (Aus) 70 74 79 78, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 74 85 71
302 Colin Montgomerie 69 74 78 81
