On this occasion, there was to be no stumble over the line. This time, Michael Campbell - a Kiwi who must wish that every tournament he plays could be in Ireland - was in control of his destiny as he played a shot of exceptional quality on the first hole of a sudden-death play-off to claim the Nissan Irish Open at Portmarnock last evening. It was his sixth win on the European Tour and his 14th as a professional.

Thirteen months ago, Campbell bled coming down the stretch in winning the European Open at the K Club, his last tournament win. This time, the 34-year-old New Zealander - watched by his parents, Maria and Thomas, who had travelled over for the tournament - showed mental fortitude and no little skill as he executed the perfect approach shot on the 18th, the first hole of a three-way play-off that also featured Thomas Bjorn and Peter Hedblom, to claim the €300,000 winner's cheque.

"I was showing off for my mum and dad," he quipped of a win that has come out of the blue.

Campbell had already played 278 strokes - 277 in the tournament, and his drive off the play-off hole - before he produced the pièce de rèsistance, the shot that would kill off his rivals. Of the eight-iron that travelled 145 yards into a slight breeze to within 12 inches of the hole, he remarked: "I can't remember when I last hit a shot of such quality."

So Campbell, who had endured a miserable season, became the first winner of the Irish Open under the title sponsorship of Nissan, who confirmed last evening they are extending the sponsorship for a further two years to 2005. "The event has been a resounding success," said Gerard O'Toole, executive chairman of Nissan Ireland. No venue for next year has yet been chosen, however.

For Campbell, a late decision to enter the Irish Open reaped handsome dividends. Earlier this year, he played 12 tournaments in the US but never reached a weekend, missing cuts, retiring injured or being disqualified.

Yet, his work with the sports psychologist Bob Rotella taught him to take things a shot at a time, "to live in the present". On arrival in Portmarnock, he put new clubs into his bag, undertook a new pre-shot routine - hovering the club behind the ball - and found renewed belief in himself.

"This win has turned my whole career around again. I knew it was just a matter of time. I wasn't panicking and it was just a matter of being patient with what I was doing," insisted Campbell. "I've been working out very well and I've been working on my short game and putting, so it was just a matter of time before it all came to fruition, and it has."

Asked if he had sympathy for Bjorn, the runner-up in last week's British Open, Campbell replied: "No, not this week. I was out there to win. Last week I felt sorry for him. It's amazing when you see a friend going for his first major and I felt sick inside just watching the last nine holes . . . but the best thing he did was to play here. If he'd gone home, he would have had too much to think about."

Campbell, too, is glad he decided to travel. "I concentrated on having more fun and being more focused," he said.

That mindset proved to be a winning formula.