Christian Cevaer, 449th in the world and without a top-30 finish in his last 15 tournaments, overcame a star-studded field and one of the toughest holes in golf to be the shock winner of the European Open on Sunday.
After an amazing weekend which saw no fewer than 45 changes of the lead, the 39-year-old, whose only previous Tour victory was the 2004 Spanish Open, beat England's Steve Webster, Scot Gary Orr and Spaniard Alvaro Quiros by a shot.
His winning total of 281, seven under par, was 13 strokes more than Ross Fisher took on the same London Club course last year - and his 74 was the highest last round by a winner all season.
But while Webster and Quiros both became more victims of the 471-yard last when tied for the lead - both carved their drives into the crowd, with Quiros hitting spectators with his first and second shots - Cevaer kept his nerve.
During the week the par four played to an average of nearly 4.7, with 154 bogeys, 48 doubles and 26 sevens or worse, but Cevaer parred it the first two days, birdied it in the third round and finished with the par he needed.
"I'm not a long player, but I used my utility club and it worked out great," he said after being showered with champagne.
"I made a point that no matter what happened just enjoy my golf, enjoy my skills and hang in there."
He played the front nine in 39 and did not have a birdie until the long 15th, but the problems meant that it brought him back into a share of top spot.
And then three closing pars were good enough to give him the Ј300,000 first prize - easily the biggest of his 16-year professional career.
At 196th on the "Race to Dubai" money list entering the week he would have been delighted just to secure his card for next season, but now he has a five-year Tour exemption.
The victory will also lift Cevaer more than 300 places in the world. For a while it looked as if Welshman Stephen Dodd, ranked 241st, might come from eight behind to win - two days after driving home thinking he had missed the cut.
But after playing the first 16 holes in a brilliant six under Dodd bogeyed the last two and finished two behind in joint fifth with Chris Wood, the Bristol 21-year-old who as an amateur was fifth in The Open last year, and Cevaer's joint overnight leader Jeev Milkha Singh.
Wood led on his own after birdies at the first and sixth, but covered the last 12 holes in three over.
With playing partner Rory McIlroy, tied for third when he resumed, surprisingly falling back to 12th with a 75 Spaniard Jose Manuel Lara was the next with a chance of posting a challenging target.
But he bogeyed the 16th and double-bogeyed the short 17th before Webster could not salvage a closing par from the thick rough and Quiros could not get up and down from over the green.
Orr, playing with Webster, came home in a fine 34, but he needed one more birdie to tie and could not find it.
World number four Sergio Garcia climbed from 47th to 13th with a closing 68, but was never in the hunt after going in the water on the 18th in the second and third rounds.
Colin Montgomerie, meanwhile, found the lake for a closing triple bogey seven and with a 75 for five over finished only 55th.
The Scot, soon to be 46, has not had a top 10 finish since last July and stated: "I just wish my golf was better. I've got no confidence at all."
This week's Wales Open at Celtic Manor brings him together with Corey Pavin, his opposite number as captain at the Ryder Cup there next year, but Montgomerie said he had asked not to be paired with the American in the first two rounds.
Collated final round scores & totals in the European Tour The European Open London Golf Club, Ash, Kent, England
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
281 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 67 70 70 74
282 Gary Orr 71 72 68 71, Steve Webster 69 72 70 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 71 70 69 72
283 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 67 69 71 76, Chris Wood 69 73 68 73, Stephen Dodd 75 70 70 68
284 Soren Hansen (Den) 69 75 67 73, Ben Curtis (USA) 68 73 75 68, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 70 72 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 68 74 72
285 Rory McIlroy 69 73 68 75
286 David Drysdale 72 71 72 71, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 75 74 68, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 72 72 71
287 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 74 75 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 75 70 74
288 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 70 75 71 72, Richie Ramsay 74 70 68 76, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 69 77 75, Branden Grace (Rsa) 69 75 74 70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 71 74 71 72, Simon Khan 67 76 74 71, Anthony Wall 68 69 76 75, Shaun Micheel (USA) 71 71 74 72, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 69 76 68 75
289 Roope Kakko (Fin) 69 76 72 72, Anders Hansen (Den) 65 73 78 73, Peter Lawrie 67 71 79 72, Bradley Dredge 72 69 76 72, Lee Westwood 70 75 74 70
290 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 70 75 74 71, Jamie Donaldson 68 70 74 78, Markus Brier (Aut) 72 72 76 70, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 71 74 73 72, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 68 76 75 71, Christopher Doak 68 72 76 74, Oliver Fisher 71 71 75 73
291 Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 67 75 74 75, Graeme McDowell 70 73 74 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 74 76 71, David Horsey 68 75 73 75, Tano Goya (Arg) 69 72 75 75, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 67 77 73 74, Graeme Storm 68 76 72 75
292 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 67 74 75 76, Steven O'Hara 71 74 74 73, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 72 75 74, Paul Lawrie 73 71 73 75, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 70 79 72, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 71 70 72 79, Paul McGinley 70 75 74 73, Mark Foster 73 72 73 74, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 66 73 79 74
293 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 69 71 76 77, Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 73 79 75, Brett Rumford (Aus) 75 70 74 74, Colin Montgomerie 70 74 74 75, Taco Remkes (Ned) 70 73 77 73
294 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 69 73 73 79, Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 74 68 81, Sam Little 66 75 76 77, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 74 79 71
295 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 71 73 75 76, Callum Macaulay 71 72 71 81, Paul Waring 70 75 72 78
298 Ross McGowan 70 71 78 79
299 Anton Haig (Rsa) 68 73 79 79, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 76 78 78
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