Thomas Levet came up with the round of his life to win the Barclays Scottish Open - and with it grab a place in this week's Open at Royal Troon.
Seven strokes behind with 18 holes to go, the 35-year-old from Paris came within a stroke of the Loch Lomond course record with a dazzling 63.
Trying and failing to hold back the tears Levet said: "It's just unreal. I so desperately wanted to play the Open. More than anyone.
"When you play like this it is a dream come true. Every shot I was trying to play was coming off and even the bad ones didn't finish too badly.
"A win is a win, but playing in the Open is something else."
As well as giving him the £366,660 first prize and a return to the event in which he lost a play-off to Ernie Els at Muirfield two years ago, it could lead to Europe having two French players in the Ryder Cup in September.
Jean-Francois Remesy won the French Open two weeks ago and leapt from 24th to seventh in the table and now Levet has jumped from 25th to ninth with only eight more qualifying events to come.
Home in a blistering 29 after an eagle, three birdies and then a fantastic approach to under three feet on the 430-yard last, the 2001 British Masters champion, without a victory since then, had to wait to see if his 15-under-par
total of 269 was good enough.
Amazingly, everything fell into place for him as, one by one, those who had been ahead of him made crucial mistakes.
Overnight leaders Gregory Havret and Marcus Fraser, both also seeking that one Open spot on offer to the leading non-exempt player in the tournament, managed only 74 and 73 respectively.
England's David Howell, South African Martin Maritz and New Zealander Michael Campbell grabbed at least a share of the lead, but Howell then bogeyed the 13th and 14th while Maritz double-bogeyed the 16th.
That left Campbell as the main danger. He was out on his own in front after birdies at the 12th and 13th, but last year's Irish Open champion drove into a ditch at the 14th and thinned a bunker shot on the next.
Both led to bogeys and after a birdie at the difficult 16th brought him back to only one behind he narrowly failed with birdie putts on the final two greens.
He was second on his own, while Howell shared third spot with defending champion Ernie Els, who needed three birdies in the last five to tie by could manage only one.
The winning birdie for Levet had not come as easily as he had hoped. Just about to putt he was distracted by the noise of a golf cart and he had to back off and re-group.
"We practise these putts all the time and you just have to stay in your routine. It was short, but it was very difficult because if I had missed it it would have gone six feet past."
Howell, even without winning since the points race began last September, has also moved into one of the top 10 automatic qualification spots.
Lee Westwood is closing to securing his place too. Joint second in the European Open last week, he had a run at the leaders with an eagle and five birdies, but three-putted the last for a 65 and finished joint 10th.
The former world number four, who crashed outside the top 250 in a nightmare slump, feels happier going into a major than he has a long time.
"It's a different kind of golf next wee and you can't read too much into this, but it's nice to be going there confident."
He wants to stay low-key, though, adding: "We've had Henmania and that's enough."
After a Saturday 76 - the worst round of the day - Colin Montgomerie perked himself up as well with a 67 on the eve of returning to his home course.
Collated final total
(Gbr and Irl unless stated, par 71):
269 Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 67 69 63 (£366,660)
270 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 70 67 63 70 (£244,440)
271 Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 68 65 68, David Howell 70 64 67 70 (£123,860 each)
272 Martin Maritz (Rsa) 75 63 69 65, Tim Clark (Rsa) 68 71 68 65, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 69 66 67, Peter Lonard (Aus) 69 67 66 70, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 67 68 64 73 (£68,112 each)
273 Lee Westwood 71 67 70 65, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 70 67 65, Ian Poulter 67 67 69 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 69 64 66 74
274 Eduardo Romero (Arg) 65 72 69 68, Tom Lehman (USA) 67 68 68 71
275 Kenneth Ferrie 67 68 72 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 68 67 68 72, Roger Chapman 69 66 68 72
276 Barry Lane 72 69 69 66, Phillip Price 65 69 71 71
277 Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 66 73 67, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 71 69 69
278 Stephen Gallacher 68 69 72 69, Tim Petrovic (USA) 71 66 72 69, Steven O'Hara 73 69 66 70, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 70 70 67 71
279 Mark Roe 67 70 75 67, Brian Davis 71 68 71 69, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 71 70 69 69, David Lynn 72 69 68 70, Anthony Wall 69 71 68 71, Graeme McDowell 72 65 70 72, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 67 68 71 73
280 Colin Montgomerie 69 68 76 67, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 68 75 69, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 74 68 67 71, Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 70 65 73 72, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 74 64 67 75
281 Terry Price (Aus) 68 74 71 68, Rob Rashell (USA) 70 72 69 70, Ben Mason 71 71 69 70, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 69 69 72 71, Robert Coles 69 73 68 71, Andrew Coltart 70 68 70 73, James Kingston (Rsa) 69 70 69 73, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 74 66 68 73
282 Marcel Siem (Ger) 69 71 73 69, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 70 72 69, Robert-Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 72 71 70, Paul Lawrie 74 68 70 70, Sandy Lyle 71 69 70 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 65 75 70 72, Ian Woosnam 73 69 68 72, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 70 68 71 73, Raymond Russell 72 68 69 73
283 Peter Lawrie 71 71 70 71, Gary Evans 70 70 71 72, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 66 76 69 72, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 67 68 73 75
284 Nick Dougherty 69 70 75 70, Philip Golding 67 71 75 71, Gary Orr 69 71 73 71
285 Matthew Blackey 73 68 74 70, Stephen Dodd 74 67 70 74
286 Julien Clement (Swi) 73 69 73 71, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 68 71 75 72, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 73 68 73 72, Chris Gane 72 68 72 74
287 Gordon Brand Jnr 70 71 73 73, Bradley Dredge 70 70 71 76
288 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 71 74 72, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 71 72 74
289 Ricky Barnes (USA) 72 69 72 76
290 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 68 73 75 74, Damien McGrane 69 71 70 80
292 Marten Olander (Swe) 73 68 75 76
293 Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 72 70 74 77
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