Darren Clarke hailed his emotionally-charged victory at the BMW Asian Open as the best of his illustrious career.
The 39-year-old edged Robert-Jan Derksen by a single stroke in a thrilling final-day encounter in Shanghai in which Clarke holed a birdie putt on the last to secure the win.
It has been five years since his last victory on the European Tour and was also his first since his wife Heather passed away in 2006.
But the win in Shanghai was certainly not a comfortable one as he was challenged all the way by playing partner Derksen.
The Dutchman had double-bogeyed the par-three 14th after he chipped into the water and though Clarke bogeyed the same hole he still moved two strokes clear at the top of the leaderboard.
From then it seemed the win would be a formality for Clarke but bogeys on the 16th and 17th meant he went to the last level par with Derksen.
"It was always going to be a difficult hurdle for me to get back to winning ways after Heather had passed away," said Clarke.
"My mind started going from about 14 onwards and I lost my concentration and started thinking about Heather and the boys and if you can't keep your concentration for the whole way round you make mistakes.
"But on the last hole I gathered myself and hit a good putt and luckily it went in.
"This is the very top. I have been working harder than I have ever worked before on all aspects of my game.
"I have been putting in nine-hour days and it is nice to see it pay off. It is a big mental hurdle that I have overcome."
Clarke is looking to return to the sort of form that saw him become the only player apart from Tiger Woods to capture more than one World Golf Championship title.
After the death of his wife, Clarke understandably had a difficult season in 2007 but turned a corner at the end of the year when he finished third at the South African Airways Open in December.
And the Ulsterman admits it has been a frustrating wait to return to winning ways on the European Tour.
"There have been frustrations," he added. "It is like in anybody's job where if you work and work but don't see a tangible difference it gets very difficult.
"That is what has happened with me as I have been working away and not seeing results.
"But you persevere and keep on going and sometimes things go your way and they did for me on the last green."
Despite being denied a third European Tour victory, Derksen refused to dwell on his defeat and instead paid tribute to Clarke.
"It was a great match," said the 34-year-old.
"In the beginning I thought it could be between the two of us as the wind was up and it would be difficult for the others to catch. He is a great winner.
"My up and down on the 18 was very good and I don't make that quite often but then Darren holed a good putt and that's his luck and it is his day."
England's Robert Dinwiddie shot a two-over-par 74 to secure a share of third place alongside Francesco Molinari and Lin Wen-tang.
World number 13 Henrik Stenson, the highest-ranked player at the tournament, produced a great final round to return to the clubhouse with a four-under-par 68 and finish sixth.
Collated fourth round scores in the European Tour BMW Asian Open, Tomson Shanghai Pudong GC, Shanghai, China
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
280 Darren Clarke 71 69 67 73
281 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 69 69 73
283 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 75 68 69, Robert Dinwiddie 70 73 66 74, Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 71 71 69 72
284 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 76 72 68
285 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 72 74 67, John Bickerton 71 75 69 70
286 Scott Hend (Aus) 69 74 71 72, Peter Lawrie 72 74 70 70
287 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 70 72 73, Oliver Wilson 68 74 74 71, Paul Broadhurst 71 73 71 72
288 Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 75 70 72, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 71 71 73 73, Scott Strange (Aus) 71 75 70 72, Greg Norman (Aus) 71 73 73 71
289 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 75 69 69 76, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 73 69 73, Iain Steel (Mal) 71 74 71 73, Miles Tunnicliff 71 70 73 75, Simon Wakefield 73 72 75 69
290 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 76 70 76, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 74 70 74 72, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 74 72 67 77, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 67 74 72 77
291 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 75 72 73 71, Young-Woo Nam (Kor) 72 73 72 74, Chris Rodgers 71 73 71 76, David Frost (Rsa) 72 75 72 72, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 73 74 71 73, Rory McIlroy 73 73 69 76, Paul Lawrie 75 72 71 73, Sam Little 71 76 70 74
292 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 70 74 72 76, David Gleeson (Aus) 73 73 68 78, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 71 76 70 75, Mark Brown (Nzl) 75 67 73 77, Mu Hu (Chn) 73 69 71 79, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 73 73 76, Ross McGowan 71 74 75 72
293 Marcus Both (Aus) 73 74 72 74, Ross Fisher 72 73 74 74, Simon Yates 74 73 71 75, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 74 74 72
294 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 73 71 75 75, Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 75 71 70 78, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 71 75 71 77, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 75 74 74, Phillip Price 73 73 78 70, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 70 69 76 79, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 73 78 71, Barry Lane 74 71 73 76
295 Gary Murphy 74 73 73 75
296 Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 72 73 72 79, Adam Blyth (Aus) 74 70 73 79
297 Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 73 75 78, Scott Barr (Aus) 72 74 76 75
298 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 68 76 77 77, Keith Horne (Rsa) 77 70 75 76
299 Chao Li (Chn) 71 72 75 81
300 Richard Finch 72 75 78 75, Wook-Soon Kang (Kor) 74 72 79 75, Richard Lee (Can) 70 75 74 81, Mong-nan Hsu (Tpe) 73 74 77 76
305 Julio Zapata (Arg) 73 72 76 84
CLARKE: CHINA IN MY HANDS
WILSON READY TO BREAK DUCK
IMPRESSIVE McGRANE SECURES VICTORY
