Robert Karlsson survived a nervous finish to warm up in style for next week's Ryder Cup with his first victory for two years in the Mercedes-Benz Championship.
And Europe captain Nick Faldo had further reasons to celebrate with fellow team members Miguel Angel Jimenez, Soren Hansen and Graeme McDowell third, eighth and 16th.
Jimenez finished with rounds of 68 and 66 on the weekend while defending champion Hansen looks in good shape for the fourballs at Valhalla with 20 birdies and three eagles over the four rounds.
Fellow rookie McDowell was less spectacular but it was Karlsson's victory after a three-week lay-off which will have given Faldo the most cause for optimism.
Karlsson began the final day with a three-stroke lead - despite suffering a one-shot penalty after his third round - and carded a closing 71 at Gut Larchenhof for a total of 13 under par and two-shot victory over Italy's Francesco Molinari.
The 6ft 5in Swede had been six clear at one stage but Molinari birdied four holes in a row from the 12th and Karlsson bogeyed the 16th to see his lead cut to just two.
Molinari then left a birdie putt on the 17th agonisingly short of the hole and missed another birdie chance on the last as Karlsson held his nerve to claim the Ј258,000 first prize.
"Hopefully Nick will be delighted," said Karlsson after an eighth European Tour title lifted him to second on the Order of Merit.
"It was a pretty good result for all of us."
Karlsson had not won since the Deutsche Bank Championship, also in Germany, in 2006, but qualified for his second Ryder Cup on the back of nine top-10 finishes this season - including eighth in the US Masters, fourth in the US Open and seventh in the Open.
"It's very nice to win, a great relief and it would have felt a bit strange not to win this season because I've been playing so well," he added.
"It got closer than necessary maybe but I felt there was not much more I could do. All credit to Francesco, he played fantastic the last eight or nine holes.
"I just tried to do my own thing but it's not easy when he is holing putts from 40ft, but in the end it was enough."
Jimenez's final round of 66 was the best of the day and the 44-year-old said: "I'm playing very solid, especially yesterday and today I holed some more putts and it's a nice combination. I feel good and feel like I can make a score and that's a very good feeling.
"I wouldn't mind playing as much as I can next week."
It remains to be seen how often the rookies like Hansen and McDowell feature at Valhalla, but Hansen looks a good bet for the fourballs on Friday afternoon.
"Twenty birdies but 20 bogeys was it?" he joked.
"It was either really fun or a disaster. I've never played a tournament where I have made so many birdies and threw in a few eagles as well.
"I played very good but made a lot of clumsy mistakes to be honest. If I can eliminate those I am right there and hopefully they will be eliminated next week. Birdies in match play are fantastic so if I can keep this going it will be good fun but it's different circumstances next week.
"I am relaxed as I can be, it's obviously going to be very exciting. It's like a dream come true.
"As a kid you're on the putting green as the sun is going down holing putts to win the Ryder Cup and all of a sudden you are actually there so it's very exciting."
McDowell, expected to partner double Open champion Padraig Harrington at some stage next week, added: "It's been hard the last few weeks to think about anything else but next week.
"It's been in the forefront of my mind but I feel as though I am taking my game out there pretty much intact so there is nothing really to worry about.
"It's going to be an exciting few days and there is going to be a lot going on. All I am looking forward to right now is seeing my golf bag with my name on it. I've always dreamed of representing Europe in the Ryder Cup and here we go.
"I think it is going to be a pretty even match-up and we have the firepower to give them a good run and maybe bring the trophy home again."
Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour Mercedes-Benz Championship, Gut Larchenhof GC, Hahnenstrasse, Cologne, Germany
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
275 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 67 69 68 71
277 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 71 65 70
279 Ross Fisher 68 73 68 70, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 71 70 68 70, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 73 68 66
281 Richard Finch 66 73 70 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 73 69 67 72
282 Soren Hansen (Den) 73 67 73 69, Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 68 72 70, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 74 70 68 70
284 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 73 70 73 68, Marc Warren 72 69 72 71, David Dixon 72 71 71 70
285 Peter Hanson (Swe) 69 69 73 74, Steve Webster 73 72 68 72
286 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 72 70 67 77, Graeme McDowell 72 73 70 71, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 73 70 73 70, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 66 71 70 79, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 74 67 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 74 75 68 69
287 Paul Lawrie 70 72 71 74, Richard Green (Aus) 72 72 72 71, David Lynn 73 75 69 70
288 Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 76 72 71 69, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 73 70 72 73, Darren Clarke 76 74 69 69, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 80 66 73 69
289 Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 71 72 75, Markus Brier (Aut) 72 74 72 71, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 70 76 71 72, Johan Edfors (Swe) 74 67 73 75
290 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 77 72 70, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 70 73 70 77
291 James Kingston (Rsa) 69 73 72 77, Fred Couples (USA) 75 70 74 72
292 Damien McGrane 70 75 75 72, David Howell 76 74 68 74, Ariel Canete (Arg) 73 72 73 74, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 75 75 70 72, Paul McGinley 73 74 71 74, Thomas Levet (Fra) 75 75 70 72
293 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 71 77 70 75
294 Anders Hansen (Den) 76 76 70 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 80 72 72 70, David Frost (Rsa) 71 72 77 74, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 71 73 74 76, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 71 75 74
295 John Daly (USA) 73 71 74 77
296 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 71 73 80 72, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 75 74 75
297 Phillip Price 71 76 74 76, Scott Strange (Aus) 74 74 79 70, Peter Lawrie 72 76 74 75
298 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 75 77 75 71, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 78 76 72 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 75 74 76
300 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 70 76 81 73, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 73 74 72 81, Simon Dyson 76 74 76 74
301 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 80 75 70 76, Sven Struver (Ger) 72 76 75 78, Alastair Forsyth 74 78 76 73
302 Graeme Storm 75 71 73 83
303 Mardan Mamat (Sin) 76 76 74 77, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 76 75 80 72
306 Stephen Dodd 73 76 78 79, Mark Brown (USA) 76 78 76 76
307 Anton Haig (Rsa) 74 78 81 74, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 77 78 79 73, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 76 76 78 77
310 Oliver Fisher 75 74 80 81
313 John Bickerton 80 76 74 83, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 79 76 79 79, Pablo Martin (Spa) 77 79 80 77
317 Scott Drummond 84 74 81 78
320 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 77 83 79 81
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