Even when he had kissed his wife, hugged his son and been congratulated all round Padraig Harrington still wanted the evidence on a piece of paper in front of him.
'I need to see the Order of Merit - just to prove it,' said the 35-year-old Irishman after pipping Paul Casey to the European Tour number one spot.
With Casey 21st in the Volvo Masters at Valderrama, Harrington had to finish tied for second to grab the title by £23,616 - and this at the end of a season in which they had both earned over £1.6million.
Three birdies in six holes from the 11th were followed by gutsy pars on the 17th and 18th (first after he had gone into the lake, then after he had hooked deep into the trees), but that still left him in a three-way tie for third as he signed his scorecard.
There were still seven groups to finish, however, and an hour later Sergio Garcia, playing in the last but one of them, pushed a horrid approach to the last into a bunker, came out 30 feet short and missed the putt.
The Spaniard's main thought was that it had handed the tournament to India's Jeev Milkha Singh, but it also had the effect of lifting Harrington into a three-way tie for second.
Casey was left the nearly man and Harrington, with the 30th runners-up finish of his career, was the new king of the circuit for the first time.
'It's been a big goal of mine, but I feel very disappointed for Paul Casey - a lot of things conspired against him,' he said, referring not just to the chain of events, but also to the fact Casey had suffered food poisoning earlier in the week.
'I should have been playing the Euro Lotto this week. Over the last six holes everything went for me.'
