Xander Schauffele has delivered one of the British Open's great finishing rounds to tame blustery Royal Troon and annex his second major triumph of the year in consummate fashion.
In racing out of the pack on Sunday to win comfortably with a superb six-under par round of 65 and add the 152nd Open to the PGA crown he won just as dazzlingly at Valhalla in May, Schauffele joined the greatest of them all, Jack Nicklaus, with his landmark performance.
The 30-year-old Californian became the first player to win two majors with closing rounds of 65 in the same year, with only the 'Golden Bear' Nicklaus himself ever having previously achieved the feat, but that came over his whole career.
For the final two rounds, Schauffele had looked comfortably the best player on the testing Ayrshire links, making light of the tough conditions to end up winning by two shots from British favourite Justin Rose and American Billy Horschel.
The Jug engraver was able to get to work with Schauffele still walking down the 18th on the Old Course en route to the best score of the entire day, a flawless, six-birdie round that left him on nine under for the Championships.
"I just can't wait to drink out of it," Schauffele said as he cradled the Claret Jug. "It really is a dream come true to be holding this.
"It means a lot, it's something all of us play for. I can't wait to sit back and have a moment with this Claret Jug."
Rose holed his 15-foot birdie putt at the last for a superb 67 of his own, punching the air in delight before warmly embracing the American who now adds his second major to his Olympic gold medal.
Horschel then followed suit, making birdies on the last three holes for a 68 to join Rose, while South African Thriston Lawrence finished fourth on six under after another three-under round.
The Australian challenge had earlier petered out when Adam Scott finished with a level-par 71 to finish tied for 10th, also at even par overall, while Jason Day shot a 68 to end up in joint-13th spot.
Schauffele's performance gave the USA a sweep of the season's four major titles for the first time since 1982, with Scottie Scheffler winning the Masters and Bryson DeChambeau the US Open.
Yet at the start of the season, there were still question marks over whether Schauffele had the right stuff to become a major winner.
He has answered them in emphatic fashion, not just with his win in Valhalla but with the extraordinary way he scattered the field who had been bunched up at the start of the day, with nine players separated by just three shots.
It was his ability to play solid, bogey-free golf in the most difficult and chilly of conditions, while his opponents stuttered, that set Schauffele apart before he reeled off three birdies in a punishing four-hole stretch early on the back nine to grasp a lead he never looked like releasing.
The veteran Brit Rose was astonished by Shauffele's calm. "I don't know what he's feeling, but he certainly makes it look very easy," he smiled.
Lawrence had been the first to make a move, covering the front nine in 32, but Schauffele changed everything when holing from three feet for birdie on the notorious 11th 'Railway' hole - the only birdie there all day - before making a 15-foot birdie on 13 and a 12-footer on the short 14th.
World No.1 Scheffler's challenge, promising early on, ended with a three-putt from six foot for a double-bogey on the ninth, as he ended with a 72, tied for seventh.
