ANZ Championship winner Brian Davis vowed to give his old mate Gary Evans a "large back-hander" and a heavy night on the tiles in Sydney after a putting lesson ignited his game.

The 29-year-old ended a near four-year wait for a second European Tour title on Sunday, sinking 10 birdies in his 65 to secure a dramatic one-point victory over defending champion Paul Casey.

Evans bunked down with Davis at the Horizons Resort free of charge this week and repaid his old mate by making crucial and timely adjustments to his putting on the night before his big day.

The lesson paid immediate dividends as Davis played deliberately aggressive golf and limited his bogeys to just three for a modified stableford score of 17 points which lifted him into the lead with 44.

He then sat back, munching on cereal, and watched as Casey missed an 18-foot eagle putt on the last to finish second with 43 and overnight leader Steve Webster imploded on the 18th in desperate search of the eagle he also needed for the title.

The victory, after a day when the lead and top positions jockeyed around almost hole by hole, guaranteed Davis fourth place in the Ryder Cup rankings and entry to the Accenture Matchplay - his main goals this morning.

"There is the boy right there, Mr Evans," said Davis, spotting his mate lurking at the back of the press conference.

"I have got to give him a large back-hander for giving me a putting lesson. I had two months off, came out and I was all over the place.

"My shoulders were left and I kept slicing across my putts. I felt I was very close but it just wasn't right.

"He gave me a couple of little tips and today I rolled the ball beautifully. I can't putt any better than that. That was unbelievable.

"My main goal was just to go out and make as many birdies as I can and see where I finished. Today it caught fire."

Webster eventually finished tied for sixth on 37 points while Frenchman Thomas Levet, amateur star Nick Flanagan and his Australian compatriot Scott Gardiner tied for third on 39 points.

Struggling for form after a two-month break at the end of last year, Davis had few victory aspirations for himself when he woke up but worked himself clear of the field on the 18th, where a sublime chip to within a foot earned him his 10th birdie and 44th point.

"It's amazing. I didn't think a win would happen at the start of the day," said Davis after claiming the glass trophy and a cheque for £137,938.

"I had struggled over the last few weeks but it puts me straight back up there in the Ryder Cup rankings which is what I want and it puts me in the Accenture Matchplay.

"I have not really been performing so to do what I did this weekend is unbelievable. I am over the moon, really pleased.

"I came close to a win a few times and felt like I could have won. But it wasn't me making mistakes, more like people grabbing it.

"That is the difference today, I went and grabbed it.

"A lot of people said last year, 'well you had a great year but didn't win'. Well that's been put to bed now."

Webster struggled under the pressures of leading a tournament into the last round for the first time and took the unwise decision to go hell for leather on the last.

"It didn't matter, I was always going to die on 18," said Webster after his disappointing 77.

"I needed five points, but that is life. I never got started. The heat just got to me and I never settled."

Australian Nick O'Hern dropped out of the top two for the first time in the tournament to finish tied with Webster for sixth, while Ricky Barnes joined three Australians - Brett Rumford, Bradley Hughes and Peter Fowler - to complete the top 10.

England's Martin Lemesurier tied for 12th on 34 points, Barry Lane was 17th and Mark Foster 21st.

Collated final round scores and totals from the ANZ Championship, Horizons Golf Resort, Australia

(Aus unless stated, par 72):

44 Brian Davis (Eng) 7 8 12 17

43 Paul Casey (Eng) 4 19 6 14

39 Thomas Levet (Fra) 9 14 7 9, Nick Flanagan 14 4 13 8

37 Scott Gardiner 7 14 11 5, Steve Webster (Eng) 14 13 12, Nick O'Hern 18 8 8 3

35 Bradley Hughes 0 19 7 9 , Peter Fowler 7 8 14 6, Brett Rumford 2 7 13 13, Ricky Barnes (USA) 5 9 16 5

34 David McKenzie 2 11 16 5, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 11 11 5 7, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 1 8 13 12, Martin Lemesurier (Eng) 5 8 10 11, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 12 7 10 5

33 Chris Downes 7 10 6 10, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) -2 15 16 4, Brendan Jones -3 13 10 13, Barry Lane (Eng) 2 12 8 11

32 Andrew Tschudin 11 1 14 6, Toru Suzuki (Jpn) 5 10 14 3, Martin Maritz (Rsa) 5 6 9 12

31 Fredrik Andersson (Swe) 3 12 13 3, Peter O'Malley 12 10 3 6, Gary Evans (Eng) 4 9 15 3, Peter Hanson (Swe) 3 9 7 12, Brad Kennedy 7 2 12 10, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 11 1 15 4, Mark Foster (Eng) 12 5 16

30 Peter Lawrie (Irl) 0 9 11 10, Robert Coles (Eng) 6 3 10 11, John Bickerton (Eng) 16 1 2 11

29 Kenneth Ferrie (Eng) 3 11 4 11, Graeme McDowell (Irl) 3 9 8 9, Michael Long (Nzl) 10 6 4 9, Mathew Goggin 9 8 8 4, Jonathan Lomas (Eng) 6 3 15 5, Craig Carmichael 4 10 6 9

28 Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 8 7 7 6, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 13 5 7 3

27 Santiago Luna (Spa) 5 10 8 4, Paul Gow 6 7 10 4, Jens Nilsson (Swe) 5 5 14 3, Steve Conran 5 4 8 10

26 Stephen Gallacher (Sco) 8 5 8 5, Alastair Forsyth (Sco) 3 10 3 10, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 3 7 8 8

25 Craig Parry -2 12 7 7, Gavin Coles 6 6 4 9, Euan Walters 6 6 10 3

24 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 5 4 9 6, Stuart Bouvier 1 8 18 -3, Greg Owen (Eng) 4 12 9 , Gregory Havret (Fra) 7 3 13 1

23 Shannon Jones 11 11 3, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 5 4 10 4, Marcus Fraser 5 7 8 3, David Smail (USA) 8 4 7 4, Michael Pearson (USA) 5 4 10 4, Simon Khan (Eng) 1 16 -1 7

22 Lucas Parsons 1 8 9 4, Richard McEvoy (Eng) 6 4 0 12, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 5 11 4 2, Steve Collins 4 5 10 3, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 5 7 0 10, Jamie Elson (Eng) 3 9 -6 16

21 Aaron Townsend 2 10 3 6

20 Tony Carolan 4 9 7 0

19 Johan Edfors (Swe) 6 5 12 -4

18 Nathan Green 10 3 4 1, Richard Green 10 0 7 2, David Diaz -3 12 5 4

16 Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 10 3 0 4, Matthew Ecob 7 4 8 -3, Grant Dodd 1 8 3 4

15 Anthony Gilligan 6 3 3 3

12 Nick Dougherty (Eng) 7 3 3 -1

11 Eddie Lee 8 1 1 1

9 Sandy Lyle (Sco) 2 7 6 -6, Stuart Little (Eng) 2 7 5 -5

6 Richard Swift (Eng) 3 9 -3 -3