Chris DiMarco believes the family connection made his first tournament victory in four years at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship even sweeter.

The American, playing in his first European Tour event outside the majors and World Golf Championships, had his wife Amy as his caddie for the four days, which ended in a one-shot victory over Sweden's Henrik Stenson.

Victory in the inaugural running of the event netted him £188,000 and his first trophy since the 2002 Phoenix Open.

And DiMarco revealed the fateful decision for her to be by his side for the first time in more than seven years was taken off the cuff.

"It was great to be able to walk up the 18th with a chance to win the tournament with her on the bag," he said.

"I think this happened for a reason. One of my brothers caddies and he couldn't do it so on a whim a month ago I just said 'Why don't you go ahead and caddy?'

"To have her on the bag when I won the golf tournament is unbelievable, it's great for us as a couple to be able to experience that. I owe at lot this week to her.

"I think this was the most special win to have her out there with me and I told her that at one point.

"The last time she caddied for me was seven or eight years ago and I was a very mediocre player back then. She agreed I've got a lot better since.

"But I think she's done with caddying now."

DiMarco was engaged in a battle of styles with the big-hitting Stenson, whose fearsome drives from the tee kept DiMarco on his toes, a clash he revelled in.

"Henrik hits the ball a long way and he kept the pressure on all day," the 37-year-old said.

"He was hitting the ball easily 70 yards past me from the tee.

"But I enjoy that and I enjoy it with Tiger [Woods] because I'm a very good iron player and I love hitting first into the greens, putting my ball next to the pin forcing them to have a look at it. That's huge.

"I got off to a great start today, which really helped calm everything down and put me up in front where I felt I didn't have to make birdies and I could put it in the middle of the green."

That great start meant Stenson, the overnight leader on 16 under, saw his one-shot lead turned into a two-shot deficit by the second hole.

DiMarco raced out of the traps with a birdie and then a brilliant putt from 35 feet for eagle, shots which might have broken lesser players than the Ryder Cup contender.

"I felt relaxed as it was early in the round and I thought in the conditions that if I could get it going, I would have a fair chance of catching up," said Stenson.

"I just didn't play well enough. Second is not that bad, but going out with a one-shot lead you always want to win.

"I've had a few second places now and I'd like to change it for a win, but it's only the first tournament of the year so I'll hopefully get plenty of chances."

Spaniard Sergio Garcia finished in third place after a storming round of 66, which he carded 45 minutes before the leaders, forcing him to watch from the sidelines and pray for a slip-up.

In the end he accepted that he had paid for his troubles early on in the event, when his score was not as low as he had expected.

The world number six said: "When you come to an event like this where you have so many good players, you know that you can't afford to make many mistakes.

"I did pretty well this week but unfortunately the first days was my weakest day with the putts. Those three or four putts I placed the first few days come to mind, and they made a huge difference.

"Although I missed a good amount of putts the last few days, I hit a lot of good ones too. When you hit so many shots close, you're going to miss some. I guess that's the explanation."

All the final scores from the European Tour's Abu Dhabi Golf Championship at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Gbr and Irl unless stated) par 72):

268 Chris DiMarco (USA) 71 67 63 67

269 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 69 62 69

270 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 69 65 66

271 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 68 68 67 68

273 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 68 64 71

275 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 71 70 69 65, Colin Montgomerie 72 68 65 70

277 Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 70 69 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 66 68 74

278 Ian Poulter 72 69 68 69, David Lynn 69 69 70 70

279 Zhang Lian-wei (Chn) 74 69 68 68, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 68 69 73 69, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 71 70 69 69, Mark Foster 71 70 69 69, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 71 69 69 70

280 Paul Broadhurst 73 71 68 68, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 72 70 69 69, Damien McGrane 70 69 71 70

281 Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 69 71 71, Richard Green (Aus) 70 70 70 71, Phillip Price 73 70 67 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 66 74 71 70

282 Stephen Dodd 73 71 70 68, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 68 71 70, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 70 68 73 71, John Bickerton 72 70 68 72, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 70 68 72, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 69 67 72

283 Anders Hansen (Den) 73 70 72 68, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 68 74 71, Steve Webster 73 66 72 72, Marcus Fraser 73 69 68 73, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 73 69 67 74

284 Gordon Brand Jnr 72 69 73 70, Jamie Spence 71 69 73 71, Oliver Wilson 72 69 72 71

285 Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 73 70 73 69, Peter Gustafsson (Swe) 69 73 73 70, Gary Emerson 73 69 73 70, David Park 73 66 75 71, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 70 71 71, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 74 70 70 71, Simon Wakefield 75 68 68 74

286 Anthony Wall 73 70 74 69, Nick Dougherty 74 70 72 70, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 75 66 73 72, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 71 71 72 72, Paul Casey 72 72 70 72

287 Graeme Storm 72 72 73 70, Richard Bland 70 72 74 71, Ross Bain 69 73 74 71, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 73 70 73 71, Constantino Rocca (Ita) 71 73 71 72, Fredrik Widmark (Swe) 72 72 71 72, Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 74 69 71 73, Barry Lane 73 71 70 73, Alastair Forsyth 70 74 70 73, Gary Orr 74 70 69 74, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 66 74 77

288 Ian Garbutt 73 71 71 73, Peter Hanson (Swe) 73 69 71 75, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 71 71 69 77

289 Richard Sterne (Rsa) 75 69 72 73, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 70 74 71 74

290 Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 73 68 76 73, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 72 72 73 73, Stuart Little 72 72 70 76, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 70 72 77

293 Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 72 74 76