A late surge from Ryan Fox saw the New Zealander claim the biggest win of his career at the BMW PGA Championship on a day when Rory McIlory shot a round of 65.
Fox began the final round three shots behind leader Ludvig Aberg and looked out of contention after running up a triple-bogey seven on the third, but he covered his last 13 holes in eight under par for a closing 67.
An 18-under-par total gave Fox a one-shot victory over playing partner Aaron Rai and Tyrrell Hatton, Rai agonisingly missing a long eagle putt on the 18th which could have given him the title or at least forced a play-off.
Jon Rahm, who had been runner-up on each of his two previous appearances at Wentworth, carded an erratic 68 to claim fourth place on 16-under as seven members of Europe's Ryder Cup side packed the top 10, with McIlroy surging through the field with a 65.
McIlroy, who needed a birdie on the last on Friday just to make the cut, appears to be hitting form at just the right time and with the Ryder Cup just a fortnight away, he'll take huge encouragement from his weekend performance.
Asked if Europe captain Luke Donald would be pleased with the leaderboard, McIlroy said: "It's awesome. We're in a good spot.
"We had a really good day in Rome on Monday, the team's been shaping up really well for the last couple of months, everyone's been in pretty good form.
"It's still almost two weeks away until the first ball is hit on the Friday morning but I'm sure you'll ask all the boys that are coming in here they are all just so excited to get to Rome and get going."
McIlroy began the final round 10 shots off the lead held by Ryder Cup team-mate Ludvig Aberg but closed to within two after covering his first 15 holes in seven under.
However, the 2014 champion was unable to birdie either the 17th or 18th, both par fives, to put more pressure on the players still out on the course following an 82-minute weather delay.
"It's not disappointment that I haven't won, I'm more disappointed that I couldn't take advantage of the positions I put myself in on 17 and 18," McIlroy said.
"Even if I had birdied those two holes and not won at least I'd have given myself every chance and given the guys that are still out on the golf course work for it a little more.
"There's a couple of things to work on and to try and iron a couple of the misses out of my game.
"I'm getting a little quick in transition with some iron shots and leaving some out to the right but apart from that I feel like everything is in pretty good shape."
Shane Lowry will also be in action for Team Europe in Rome and after a round of 67 yesterday, appeared to be on his way to another low score but a disastrous 17th hole saw him sign for 9 shots on the par-5 to undo most of his good work and he eventually finished on -10.
Aberg, who had been seeking back-to-back victories in just his 10th event as a professional, held a two-shot lead after 54 holes but slumped to a closing 76 which included two double bogeys in the space of three holes.
Hatton had started the day five off the lead but birdied the second and third, almost made a hole-in-one on the fifth when his tee shot clattered into the pin and then holed out from a bunker on the sixth.
After dropping a shot on the eighth, further birdies on the 10th and 11th gave Hatton a four-shot lead before Fox began his charge with four birdies in five holes from the 10th to get within one.
Hatton then drove out of bounds on the 15th and was facing a seven-foot putt for bogey before play was suspended due to the threat of lightning, a putt he duly made after an 82-minute delay.
Fox was fortunate that a wayward drive on the same hole did not run deep into the trees but took full advantage, hitting a superb second shot from the pine straw to 10 feet and converting the birdie putt to lead outright.
Hatton birdied the last to set up the prospect of a play-off but, after Rai's eagle attempt agonisingly caught the edge of the hole and stayed out, Fox calmly holed from six feet to seal a fourth DP World Tour title.
