Nicolas Colsaerts has edge over Graeme McDowell to win World Match Play

And, by beating Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell on the last green in the final, the 29-year-old from Brussels, whose 316-yard average off the tee is longer than that of Bubba Watson, is also into both the world’s top 50 and a Ryder Cup qualifying position.

It all came his way after a week of living dangerously at Finca Cortesin in Spain.

Like last year’s winner Ian Poulter, Colsaerts did not win either of his group games and survived only after a play-off with Charl Schwartzel.

His semi-final with Paul Lawrie yesterday began with him losing the first four holes, but he then launched a fightback and after an hour-long thunderstorm delay won at the 20th.

That set up a clash McDowell, who beat Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello on the last, and a year after beating the Irishman in the quarter-finals he took the £559,865 cheque.

With winds gusting over 30mph, McDowell was hoping to become the first Irish winner of a championship dating back to 1964. He had to be content, though, with just being their first finalist and with giving his Ryder Cup prospects a healthy boost – plus £287,930, of course.

Colsaerts led on four separate occasions and only at the fourth time of asking did he turn that into a two-up advantage. McDowell fought, but could not get back on terms.

The turning point for Colsaerts before lunch came when Lawrie hit his second to the long eighth into the bushes. He bogeyed that hole, lost the next to birdie to turn only two ahead, then let Colsaerts off the hook at the long 11th as the wind really picked up.

The Belgian lost his ball right, but Lawrie twice had to take penalty drops himself and eventually halved it in double-bogey sevens. Colsaerts birdied the 13th and 14th to level, bogeyed the 16th, but after an hour’s rain delay birdied from a bunker on the last to force sudden death and won it at the second extra hole when he got up and down again.

McDowell won three of the first four holes against Cabrera-Bello but with two to play there was only one in it and the Canary Islander was the closer of the pair to the par five final hole in three, but three-putted to lose.

McDowell started the final by making an 18-footer on the first and nine-footer at the short second. However, he then fell behind at the fourth, sixth and eighth, only for Colsaerts to lose the next each time – the ninth when he duffed his pitch after McDowell had done the same. That took them into the back nine level and with the wind gusting over 30mph McDowell found the bushes at the 11th and bogeyed to go one down for a fourth time.

He could have levelled once more on the next, but missed from three feet and then hit what looked like a shank down the 13th to bogey again and fall two down for the first time. McDowell, though, was the one to drive the green at the downwind 14th and an eight-foot birdie putt narrowed the deficit.

Both bogeyed the 15th, but McDowell dropped another on the next, but Colsaerts three-putted the 17th. His length paid handsome dividends at the last, though, and that was that.