Henrik Stenson began last week by breaking his driver and smashing up his locker, but ended it by keeping his cool to become the first European winner of both the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup title.
Stenson carded a final round of 68 at East Lake to win by three shots from Jordan Spieth and Steve Stricker and claim the first prize of $1.4 million (£875,000) and $10 million (£6.2 million) FedEx Cup bonus.
The 37-year-old Swede had led by nine shots midway through the third round but bogeyed three of his last five holes to take a four-shot lead over Dustin Johnson into the final round.
And that lead was down to one when Spieth birdied four holes in a row from the 13th to go with the hat-trick of birdies he had carded from the seventh, with Stenson dropping his first shot of the day on the 14th.
However, Spieth then bogeyed the 17th when his approach plugged in a greenside bunker and Stenson crucially holed from seven feet for what proved a decisive birdie on the 15th.
“Since the Scottish Open it’s just been an incredible run and I don’t know what to say,” Stenson said. “I am speechless. It just shows one should never give up and always keep on trying harder.
“I managed to come back out of some bad slumps twice and that just shows always hang in there and try your best and good things will come your way eventually.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I had to fight hard mentally to keep all this aside and go out there and do my job and I managed to do that and this is going to feel better and better as the week moves on, I am pretty sure about that.”
Stenson won his first European Tour title in 2001 but then went through the first of two career slumps, the second coming in 2011 and leaving him 230th in the world rankings at the start of last year.
He also lost a reported seven-figure sum in disgraced financier Allen Stanford’s Ponzi scheme in 2009, just months after the biggest victory of his career to date in the Players Championship at Sawgrass.
Add in some serious health problems one caused by a parasite picked up on holiday and Stenson’s form in 2013 is all the more remarkable, with a share of third place in the Scottish Open followed up by runners-up finishes in the Open and WGC Bridgestone Invitational, third place in the US PGA and victory in the Deutsche Bank Championship.
That win in Boston lifted Stenson to the top of the FedEx Cup standings ahead of the BMW Championship. Although Tiger Woods regained top spot as Stenson finished 33rd in Chicago, as one of the top five heading into Atlanta Stenson’s destiny was firmly in his own hands.
Those hands had snapped his driver on the final hole at Conway Farms in frustration at a closing 74, while he also damaged his locker and was forced to “apologise to the appropriate parties” and pay for the damage according to his agent.
But just six days later the popular Swede who was struggling badly with tendinitis in his wrist earlier in the week had his hands on two trophies and an eight-figure payday for a wire-to-wire triumph.