Ricardo Gonzalez had waited so long for a European Tour title since Spanish success at the Open de Sevilla in 2004 that some spectators had forgotten who he was.
The veteran Argentine changed that at this week's Scandinavian Masters in Sweden when a sensational finish saw him birdie five of the last six holes.
He closed with a four-under-par 69 for a 10-under 282 four-round total, two strokes better than second-placed Jamie Donaldson.
Gonzalez made his Tour debut in 1992, before returning to the Challenge Tour until 1999. He had to wait almost 10 years before lifting his first Tour trophy in 2001 – at the Omega European Masters, Crans-sur-Sierre – and two years later he lifted the 2003 Open de Madrid.
Despite the drought since Seville, the 39-year-old insists he never lost faith.
"It's been a hard year, but I was fighting, fighting, fighting," said Gonzalez, who is playing on Tour for his 11th consecutive year. "I had the feeling you can always make it if you work hard and never lose faith. I had never given up hope of winning and I was confident. In the trees on the 18th I had only about a three-metre gap to go through, but it looked much smaller. It was either luck or a great shot – maybe both."
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