New Zealander Michael Campbell, who was worried he might have to give up golf and find another career only three years ago, looked a world-beater again as he ran away with the Heineken Classic in Perth yesterday.
Four birdies in the last five holes - either side of a thunderstorm which halted play for 95 minutes - gave Campbell a six-stroke victory over Dane Thomas Bjorn.
Ireland's Paul McGinley shot a final round of two-over-par 74 to finish on three-under-par 285 and a share of 18th place. After breaking par in each of his previous three rounds, McGinley could not keep the momentum going and slipped down the field to finish 17 shots behind Campbell.
The win, worth Stg £121,767, was the 30-year-old Campbell's third in his last seven starts. In November even Tiger Woods was left in the New Zealander's wake as he won the Johnnie Walker Classic in Taiwan and only last week he captured the New Zealand Open.
But within moments of closing with a 66 for a 20-under-par total of 268 which shattered the tournament record by five, Campbell recalled the moment when he feared for his future.
After finishing third at the 1995 British Open at St Andrews the man tipped for the very top suffered a serious wrist injury and on his return his game had totally deserted him.
He slumped from fifth on the European Order of Merit to 120th in 1996 and as his struggles continued he had rounds of 78 and 79 at the following year's French Open and returned to his hotel room in despair.
"I chucked my clubs from one side of the room to the other and just thought to myself `What can I do'?
"I thought I might go back to my old job as a telecom engineer or work in a pro shop.
"But thanks to the circle of friends I had I've come through and now I think it's possible I can be one of the best players in the world."
In temperatures which for the second day running were around the 110-degree mark (45 Centigrade) Campbell was only one ahead of Bjorn with five to go, but pitched to five feet on the 393-yard 14th, then dramatically holed a bunker shot at the next.
That was the real killer blow - and it was the last he struck before the storm arrived. When the action resumed he immediately fired a five-iron to 10 feet at the short 16th and holed.
