Scotland's Andrew Coltart breathed a huge sigh of relief after surviving a mid-round stumble to finally secure a long overdue second European Tour title in the Great North Open.
Coltart carded a final-round 72 for an 11-under-par total of 277 and a one-shot victory over fellow Scot Stephen Gallacher and Surrey's Paul Casey at Slaley Hall.
Wales' Bradley Dredge was on course to force a play-off until he ran up a double-bogey six on the 18th and had to settle for a share of fourth on nine under par alongside English pair Daren Lee and Steve Webster.
"I'm delighted, it's been a while," admitted Coltart whose only previous tour victory came over 300 rounds ago in the Qatar Masters in 1998.
"It's very difficult to try and find the self-belief when you have very little to justify it. I'm almost doubly delighted that it was pretty horrible and I managed to keep my head and get the job done."
Coltart began the day three shots clear of the field but at one stage found himself two shots off the lead after bogeys at the eighth and ninth while Lee had picked up four birdies in his opening 12 holes.
Birdies at the 11th and 12th got him back on level terms before another bogey on the 12th dropped him back into a five-way tie for the lead.
Crucially for Coltart, however, of all the players in contention he was the only one with a tournament victory under his belt and as the rest faltered, a 15-foot putt for birdie on the 15th took him back to 11 under and alongside Dredge in the lead.
Dredge then suffered a terrible stroke of bad luck on the 18th when his tee shot hit a spectator and ended in deep rough which meant he could not reach the green in two and the resulting six proved very costly.
Coltart had the advantage of watching the drama unfold from the fairway and knowing he needed just a par four to win which he safely secured to claim the first prize of £133,330 which lifts him into 10th on the Order of Merit and eighth in the Ryder Cup standings.
"I would have been a lot happier with something more comfortable but that said I'm not going to complain," added Coltart, who was one of Mark James' wild cards for the 1999 Ryder Cup and lost to Tiger Woods in the singles in his only appearance.
By finishing second meanwhile, Casey secured his playing privileges for the rest of the season and next year from only his fifth tournament appearance.
The 23-year-old had used the fifth of his seven allowed invitations to play here this week but the cheque of £69,480 added to his earnings from the other four events and is enough to earn a tour card and automatic entry into this week's Irish Open.
