The 18th hole twice claimed Craig Parry as a victim but it made a hero of fellow Aussie Brad Kennedy as he drained a lengthy birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win the New Zealand Open.
Both players did their best to throw it away in regulation, with overnight leader Kennedy losing a three-stroke advantage and only sneaking into extra holes when Parry double bogeyed the 18th.
Parry bombed his second shot into the water on that occasion, and drove it into a fairway bunker in the playoff.
Kennedy safely found the green to give himself an advantage and calmly rolled in the 30-foot birdie putt to claim the title.
"The playoff was great. To play against someone like Craig and to win holing a putt for birdie was fantastic," said Kennedy, who no doubt thought the $AU72,000 winner's cheque wasn't too shabby, either.
While he needed Parry's final hole capitulation to achieve it, Kennedy was deserved of his success even if his 74 on Sunday might not have been enough on another day.
The world No.228, the tournament's highest-ranked golfer, had at least a share of the lead at the end of all four rounds with 68, 71, 68 again and his closing 74.
"I've never gone wire to wire," he said. "Most of my good finishes have been coming from behind. So it was a little bit of a different feeling.
"Obviously the late start, to wake up at nine o'clock and trying to fill in five or six hours before I got ready wasn't easy. But I just kept doing what I needed to do."
Parry's three-under 69 on Sunday was the equal-best effort of the day although it could have, and should have been better.
Geary continued a growing list of so close, yet so far stories in New Zealand by finishing third at six-under. He would have been the only player to card four consecutive under-par rounds if not for his bogey on 18.
Fourth place went to Rohan Blizard at five-under, Leigh Deagan and Nicholas Cullen shared fifth a shot further back and Brent McCullough along with Adam Crawford completed an Australian domination of the leaderboard in equal seventh.
It was an Aussie sweep of the silverware as well. 18-year-old Jake Higginbottom lifted the Bledisloe Cup for the low amateur of the week with rounds of 72, 68 and a pair of 76s over the weekend.
Kennedy held sway by three strokes on Saturday night over Kiwi Josh Geary and a further two over Parry.
Parry fell six behind when bogeying the opening hole but an eagle on the 2nd lit a fire under him.
He birdied the 9th to turn in two-under 34, added two more at the 10th and 11th then made another at the 14th to move to nine-under and a two-stroke advantage.
Meanwhile, Kennedy and Geary were treading water. Three bogies and a birdie on his outward nine resulted in a 38 to Kennedy, although he was still in a share of the lead turning for home.
Geary's ball striking had completely deserted him but he held on grimly with a superb short game. His round started with seven straight pars, had a bogey at the 8th due to an unplayable lie then made a fine birdie at the 9th to pull within one.
And although a roar reverberated around Clearwater when the Kiwi birdied the 15th and 16th, it looked like it wouldn't be enough to haul in Parry.
Kennedy might have thought the trophy was out of his grasp as well as he couldn't make any ground up on the back nine, rattling off a string of pars from the 10th that kept him in the hunt but nothing else.
The pair wouldn't have reckoned on a final-hole capitulation from Parry, the likes of which seemed unthinkable from a veteran of his pedigree.
It wouldn't have been crystal clear what was required of him, given Kennedy and Geary were in the final group behind him, but surely he knew par would be good enough to hoist the Brodie Breeze Trophy for the second time.
The 45-year-old's drive floated left into the rough, from where he made a monumental error. His second shot was pulled well left into the water guarding the green, and a subsequent drop and pitch left him 10 feet away for bogey.
He missed it, meaning a birdie to either Geary or Kennedy would see their name etched into the silverware and pars would get them into a playoff.
Geary was the first to falter. He also drove into a watery grave, dropped in the rough and almost rifled a brilliant third shot from the rough against the pin, then never scared the hole with a 30-foot par attempt.
Kennedy almost won it in regulation when a fine second shot pulled up 10 feet from the hole but he committed the cardinal sin of leaving it short, right in the jaws of the cup.
If that was nerves, it didn't show as the Aussie pair were shuttled back down the 18th to do it all again.
With Parry in the fairway trap, then short, then facing a 10-footer for par, Kennedy took him out of the equation by rolling in a bomb for the most significant victory of his 18-year professional career.