Paul Broadhurst won his first European Tour event for a decade after an extraordinary finish to the Portuguese Open.
Broadhurst thought his chance had disappeared when he bogeyed the final hole after driving into a bush to the left of the fairway. But in the group behind, long-time leaders Barry Lane and Paul Lawrie made a mess of the 17th, Lane taking a bogey five and former Open champion Lawrie a triple-bogey seven.
That still left Lane needing only to par the 18th to win, but the 44-year-old amazingly crashed to a quintuple-bogey nine after also driving into a bush.
Attempting to hack out on to the fairway, Lane hit his second shot far too hard across the fairway to within a foot of the out of bounds fence.
From there he hit his third shot out of bounds and after taking a penalty drop for an unplayable lie, hit his sixth shot short of the green.
Lawrie still had a 12-foot birdie putt to force a play-off but contrived to leave it short, leaving Broadhurst to claim the £144,000 first prize for his first victory since the 1995 French Open. A closing 67 gave the 39-year-old a 13-under-par total of 271, one ahead of Lawrie with Portugal's Jose-Filipe Lima chipping in for a birdie on the last to claim third. Lane had to settle for fifth place on eight under par after a closing 72.
"This is probably one of the most surprising days of my career," said a stunned Broadhurst. "I feel a lot of sympathy for Barry - you don't wish that on anybody because I've done it enough myself.
"I thought I needed to birdie the 16th and par the last two holes.
"I just wanted to set some sort of score but I was relying on Barry or Paul to make a mess of a hole somewhere along the way.
"When I drove into the bush on the 18th I thought that was it but as I was signing my card I saw Barry had driven into trouble. I still expected him to make a five and I was thinking about a play-off."
Broadhurst's lack of success on the tour had been brought home last year when he overheard his young son Sam telling someone in a supermarket queue: "My Daddy used to be a good golfer."
Out of the mouths of babes . . .
Then, Broadhurst went on to finish a creditable fifth in the British Masters at The Forest of Arden after leading going into the final round. The winner? One Barry Lane.
Yesterday, both players' minds may have drifted back to that day. Broadhurst is perhaps still thanking his son for that extra verbal push.
"You keep plugging away hoping it's going to be your turn," added Broadhurst yesterday, who regained his playing rights in 2003 and finished 44th on the Order of Merit last year.
"My wife asked me last night 'Do you think you can win?' and I said probably not because of the way I was swinging it.
"When I've won before my game has been in top order but on Wednesday I was really struggling and went out there with no expectations. Since 2000 it's been a real rollercoaster but there have been signs the last couple of years that things are improving.
"To win is a big weight off my shoulders. I can plan the year properly now. For the last five or six years it's all been about getting my card."
Tettenhall's Peter Baker, playing on an invitation after losing his tour card last season, shot a final round 69 to finish on 281, the same mark as Jonathan Lomas, while Hereford's David Park and Steve Webster, another out of Atherstone, were a shot back in joint 11th after respectively shooting 68 and 65. John Bickerton, of Droitwich, was well down the field after a closing one-over-par 72.
Lane, for whom victory last year in the British Masters was also his first for ten years was remarkably philosophical about his disastrous finish at Quinta da Marinha.
"My second shot came out beautifully and the next one hit a root in front of me and went out of bounds," said the former Ryder Cup player. "Then we didn't know how many shots I'd had!"
Broadhurst, who was one of six players forced to complete their third rounds on Sunday due to Saturday's rain delays, began the final round two off the lead and looked out of contention after bogeys at the third and fifth.
But, while all the attention was focused on playing partners Lane and Lawrie in the final group, the Midlander picked up birdies at the sixth, seventh and ninth and four more on the back nine to keep in touch with the leaders.
Lawrie, who has slipped to 346th and who would have lost his card last season but for his ten-year exemption for winning at Carnoustie in 1999, said: "I played well and holed no putts at all. When you miss those kinds of chances it tends to catch up with you which is what happened. It was obviously not a good finish."
