Dubliner Peter Lawrie finally became a European Tour winner at the 175th attempt - and made it three Irish wins in a row.
On a dramatic final day to the Spanish Open in Seville Lawrie prevented Ignacio Garrido creating Tour history when he won a play-off at the second extra hole.
Garrido was seeking to emulate his father Antonio, winner in 1972, and kept his hopes alive when he sank a closing 30-foot birdie putt to tie on 15 under par.
He was the one then poised for the Ј262,758 first prize when he pitched to three feet as they went into sudden death.
However, 34-year-old Lawrie made a 25-footer for a matching birdie three and Garrido's next pitch to the same green spun back into the water.
"I'm not a party person, but I will enjoy this," said Lawrie after following the lead of his room-mate Damien McGrane and Darren Clarke, winners of the two previous Tour events in China.
The closest he had come to success before was in the same tournament in 2003 when he lost a play-off to England's Kenneth Ferrie.
He has now put that firmly behind him, but although Garrido has captured the Tour's flagship PGA Championship - that was also five years ago - it will be a massive disappointment to him that he has now finished a runner-up in the Spanish Open three times.
The former Ryder Cup player led by a massive seven strokes when he signed for a course record 63 on Friday and was still three clear entering the final round.
Lawrie was five adrift then and still four behind after an outward 35, but he birdied the long 13th and then had three more in succession from the 15th, the last of them courtesy of a 40-foot putt.
"I've three bullets to dodge and if I dodge them I'm the winner," he commented as he waited to see what happened to the players still out on the course.
Dane Soren Hansen had a 12-foot chance to tie, but missed, then Miguel Angel Jimenez - in front until he put two balls in the water on the 10th and ran up a triple bogey seven - fell out of the running as well.
That left only one bullet, but Garrido was eventually also unable to stop Lawrie breaking his duck.
As for his putt on the first play-off hole, the 2003 Rookie of the Year, an Irish international at all levels as an amateur, commented: "It was a one in a million chance and it went in.
"I thought it was going to stop short left and it snuck in. I'd love to see a replay of myself." Lawrie, normally calmness personified, went into an Irish jig.
But there was more work to be done and despite pushing his next tee shot into sand he found the green and a par four was good enough after Garrido's error.
"It's nice to keep it in the Irish contingent," he added. "It spurs you on - you play practice rounds with them and think 'why can't I do it'?"
But now he has and as a result he has moved from 88th to 12th on the Order of Merit and into 19th spot in the Ryder Cup race.
Hansen and Jimenez would have leapt to sixth in the cup standings by winning, but ended up third and joint fourth respectively.
Alongside Jimenez were English pair David Lynn and Richard Finch and little-known Spaniard Alfredo Garcia, while Clarke's closing 73 left him 22nd and a 74 from Colin Montgomerie put him 70th of the 75 players who made the cut.
Collated final-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
273 Peter Lawrie 68 70 68 67 (Peter Lawrie won play-off at second hole), Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 66 63 72 72
274 Soren Hansen (Den) 68 70 67 69
275 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 67 67 71, Alfredo Garcia (Spa) 69 69 69 68, David Lynn 70 66 73 66
276 Richard Finch 72 69 67 68
277 Peter Hanson (Swe) 74 67 69 67, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 65 68 73 71
278 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 68 69 70, Alexander Noren (Swe) 74 64 70 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 72 69 71 66, Danny Willett 73 70 64 71, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 72 65 69 72
279 Marco Ruiz (Par) 70 66 69 74, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 72 66 71 70, Pablo Martin (Spa) 72 70 67 70
280 Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 73 69 67 71, Iain Pyman 71 68 71 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 72 68 69 71, Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 74 65 71 70
281 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 70 71 72 68, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 68 68 70 75, Darren Clarke 72 69 67 73, Steven O'Hara 68 70 75 68, Gary Lockerbie 72 71 70 68, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 70 69 71 71, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 69 68 73, Mark Foster 70 67 68 76, Peter Fowler (Aus) 70 66 70 75, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 71 71 70 69
282 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 72 71 70 69, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 68 69 71 74, Liam Bond 76 65 71 70, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 71 66 70 75, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 69 70 70 73
283 Gary Orr 71 68 75 69, Peter Whiteford 68 72 72 71, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 74 67 70 72, Julio Zapata (Arg) 72 71 68 72, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 73 70 71 69, Simon Wakefield 73 70 71 69, Anthony Wall 71 66 73 73, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 70 70 73 70, Paul McGinley 74 68 70 71, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 70 69 70 74
284 Gary Clark 67 74 70 73, Francis Valera (Spa) 71 68 72 73, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 71 71 72 70, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 72 70 69 73
285 Miles Tunnicliff 72 68 70 75
286 Garry Houston 75 68 74 69, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 69 71 73 73
287 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 73 69 72 73, Robert Rock 69 71 73 74, Matthew Millar (Aus) 70 72 76 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 71 73 72
288 Stephen Gallacher 70 69 77 72, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 73 70 77 68, Alan McLean 72 71 72 73, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 71 70 77, Santiago Luna (Spa) 74 69 72 73, Florian Praegant (Aut) 70 72 75 71, Ian Garbutt 72 71 70 75
289 Peter Baker 69 74 73 73, Sion Bebb 75 67 74 73
290 Carl Suneson (Spa) 76 67 75 72, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 73 70 71 76
291 Klas Eriksson (Swe) 71 69 75 76
292 Gary Boyd 75 68 72 77, Colin Montgomerie 70 73 74 75
293 Jamie Donaldson 72 70 78 73, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 74 69 74 76
295 Jordi Garcia (Spa) 66 76 77 76
296 Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 70 72 76 78
LAWRIE LEFT SPEECHLESS
CLARK RELISHING FRESH CHALLENGE
CLARKE: CHINA IN MY HANDS
CLARKE HAILS BEST WIN
