There is unlikely to be a more popular win anywhere in the world this year than the wire-to-wire triumph achieved by Fred Couples at the Houston Open on Sunday.
"Boom Boom", as the laid-back but big-hitting Couples has affectionately been known for more than a decade, has always been the "people's player".
Fans have easily related to the 1992 US Masters champion, admiring his graceful manner on the course and the way he has always ensured he spends as much time as possible with his family. When on his game, as he was for so much of the early 1990s before chronic back trouble began to take its toll, he was seemingly invincible.
Couples became on Sunday the first University of Houston student to win the Houston Open, a victory which was his first on the US PGA Tour since the 1998 Memorial Tournament.
Aged 43, he birdied four of the last five holes for a closing 67, holding off last-day challenges by Mark Calcavecchia, Hank Kuehne and Australia's Stuart Appleby, who had to settle for a share of second place on 271.
Couples began the final round with a one-shot lead over Calcavecchia. After both players finished the front nine with four birdies and a double-bogey each, Couples still held a tenuous one-stroke margin. He dropped into a tie with Calcavecchia after bogeying the 10th. Then Calcavecchia, the 1989 British Open champion, seized the lead at 18-under with a birdie on the 12th.
Meanwhile, Appleby started making his move. After making birdie on four of five holes beginning at the 11th, the Australian took the lead. After putting his tee shot in the rough on the 16th, Appleby bogeyed while Couples and Calcavecchia each birdied the 15th.
Kuehne, the second-round co-leader, birdied three straight holes from the 15th to take a one-shot lead. That margin was short-lived, as the 27-year-old hit his drive into the water on the left of the 18th fairway and made bogey.
With a another birdie at the 16th, his third straight, Couples was in control. He parred the 17th to Calcavecchia's bogey, then birdied the 18th for the second straight day for a five-under 67.
Shortly after Couples had birdied the 18th for the second day in a row to finish at 21-under-par 267, he broke down in tears during a television interview.
"I mumbled a few things, then basically wanted to get out of there - I just needed to regroup a little bit," he said, as he tried to put his lengthy wait for a 15th career title on the PGA Tour into context.
"I haven't won in five years. I haven't played really well in five years, I worked hard on my game and it meshed.
"And to win, it's a great bonus for (caddie) Joey (LaCava) and myself and my wife (Thais) and family, but, you know, I have a lot of people to thank."
Couples has had to face several tough challenges away from the course during his playing career, and these will have made the taste of victory on Sunday that much sweeter.
His mother Violet died on Mother's Day in 1994, only a few weeks after being diagnosed with cancer, while his father Tom, who introduced his son to the game, died three years later.
His first wife Deborah, with whom he experienced an occasionally stormy relationship, committed suicide in 2001 after suffering from depression.
Thais, his present wife, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, but she has since overcome it and the couple now make the very most of the time they spend together at their Santa Barbara home with their children GiGi and Oliver.
Couples first burst on to the golfing scene with his maiden victory at the 1983 Kemper Open, two years after he turned pro.
He almost holed his tee shot to birdie Congressional's par-three 16th, clinching the second extra hole of a five-way play-off with TC Chen, Barry Jaeckel, Gil Morgan and Scott Simpson.
The charismatic Couples, who had arrived in such explosive fashion, was firmly implanted in the public consciousness.
He has since retained his standing as one of the game's most popular players but, for keen observers of golf, will always be remembered for 1992 - his annus mirabilis.
Couples began that year as the best current player never to have won a major. He ended it as reigning Masters champion, with US PGA Tour earnings of more than $1.3 million and the number one spot in the US money list for the first and only time.
He began the final day at Augusta National trailing Australia's Craig Parry by one but a closing 70 secured him a two-stroke victory as he completed a remarkable tournament streak of three wins and two second places in six starts.
A full 11 years have since passed and, during that time, Couples won only five more PGA Tour titles before Sunday's memorable triumph at the Houston Open.
"I feel honoured to win again," he said. "I played a very, very good round of golf and . . . just to finish strong and make some birdies and get a big cushion was a nice feeling.
"It worked out great, I really hit some very nice shots the last few holes and it was a lot of fun.
"I appreciate golf a lot more than I did - I have more fun playing than I did in the '80s and '90s. There is no doubt."
LEADING FINAL SCORES AND TOTALS (Par 72, USA unless stated): 267 - F Couples 65 68 67 67; 271 - H Kuehne 69 64 72 66, M Calcavecchia 68 65 68 70, S Appleby (Aus) 66 70 66 69; 272 - J Haas 67 67 70 68; 273 - J Maggert 71 66 72 64; 275 - G Ogilvy 70 69 68 68, J Daly 69 69 67 70; 276 - S Flesch 72 66 67 71, V Singh 67 68 70 71, K Sutherland 69 70 67 70, P Jacobsen 67 71 69 69 277 - J Riegger 70 68 67 72, C Franco (Par) 73 67 68 69, D Sutherland 69 67 68 73, S McCarron 69 68 67 73; 278 - T Immelman (Rsa) 70 68 65 75, B Baird 67 71 68 72, E Els (Rsa) 69 69 69 71, R Gamez 71 66 67 74; 279 - C Campbell 68 72 67 72, G Willis 72 68 69 70, D Stiles 70 70 67 72, G Chalmers 73 68 64 74, P Stankowski 69 66 71 73, A Cejka (Ger) 70 70 66 73, B May 69-68-69-73
