Padráig Harrington, before setting off to defend The Open Championship title at Royal Birkdale, wrapped up his fifth Irish PGA Championship title at The European Club with a final round of one-over-par 72 for an aggregate of 285 - also one over - and a four shots win over Philip Walton.
It was a sort of Jekyll & Hyde performance from the champion as he mixed four birdies with three bogeys and a double-bogey to finish on the 18th hole. Still, Harrington reckons that the four days' work was a very useful exercise leading into his defence of the Open crown.
"The whole week was very satisfactory. It has been a good week. My alignment was off last week and I think that was probably because of the neck injury so that meant that I had to concentrate a little harder and that is a good thing. I should have that sorted out by next week. I got to hit a few more shots around the greens and that is good. My short game was good - I putted lovely all week and I'm very happy with that end of things.
"An excellent exercise and I couldn't have asked for a better week in preparation. When I got a good break to birdie eight that set the seal on it. When I birdied 15, I sort of lost my concentration on the last couple of holes. I'll have to watch for that, you always have to pay attention," he cracked.
"It was certainly good to come back after losing shots at the first and fourth, and, as I said, when I birdied eight I knew I was going to do a decent score. It was a bit disappointing to drop a shot, rather two shots, at the last as I wanted to finish under par."
Harrington could probably have made a lot more money than the €10,000 he collected from the €70,000 jackpot in the Ladbrokes.com Irish PGA Championship if he had played in the Scottish Open but he insists that winning is much better than a bigger pay day.
Walton, after carding three 73s posted a sub-par 70 in the final round to finish for the second time runner-up to Harrington - just one stroke separated the pair at St Margaret's in 2004 - also heads for Royal Birkdale next week after qualifying for The Open last Tuesday. It is 10 years since he last competed for that title.
Three birdies and two bogeys was the story of his final round performance.
"I'm looking forward to it (Royal Birkdale). I was swinging all over the place there and I'll have a few days rest now," he revealed.
David Higgins matched Walton's 70 for third place while Eamon Darcy posted a closing 72 for fourth on 293 to also win the Seniors' prize while Derek McNamara (Portmarnock) finished leading assistant on 309 in 19th place.