Cape Town - Guido Migliozzi held his nerve to claim a maiden European Tour title after carding a closing round of 69 to win the Magical Kenya Open.
The Italian, who became a European Tour member for the first time in November last year after progressing through Qualifying School, started the day in a tie for the lead with fellow rookie Adri Arnaus, and the pair exchanged blows throughout an enthralling final day in Nairobi.
"I like the pressure, it's like a drug. I love pressure, I love playing with a lot of people looking at me and a lot of cameras. Obviously I played with Adri Arnaus and we had a beautiful match together yesterday, it was like match play and today was a great battle," said Migliozzi.
"I enjoyed the last two days very much. The pressure was a lot and I'm happy about how I'm playing under pressure, also with my putting game that I worked a lot on."
It was the 22-year-old who would prevail though delivering when it mattered most by hitting the pin with his approach to the 18th to set up a two-putt par which saw him triumph by one shot.
Finishing one behind Migliozzi was Arnaus and South Africans Louis de Jager and Justin Harding.
Following his Qatar Masters victory last week, Harding was firmly in contention right down to the wire in the Kenyan capital, thanks to a five-under par final round of 66.
"I had a good week last week and another one this week so I'm sitting quite nicely first season on the European Tour," said Harding.
Setting a new course record at Karen Country Club was Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, who ended a nine-week stretch away from his native Scotland with a scintillating eight under par round of 63.
Final scores:
268 G Migliozzi (Ita) 67 68 64 69,
269 A Arnaus (Esp) 66 68 65 70, L De Jager (RSA) 64 66 70 69, J Harding (RSA) 70 65 68 66,
270 G Bhullar (Ind) 65 70 66 69,
271 R Langasque (Fra) 67 70 69 65, K Samooja (Fin) 70 67 64 70,
274 L Johnston (Sco) 67 69 67 71,
275 A Karlsson (Swe) 69 70 68 68, J Geary (Nzl) 67 73 67 68, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 67 73 66 69,
276 S Crocker (USA) 72 71 68 65, N Lemke (Swe) 72 69 71 64, H Porteous (RSA) 69 73 68 66, J Singh Brar (Eng) 64 70 69 73, T Bjørn (Den) 70 70 70 66,
277 C S (Ind) 70 69 69 69, C Sharvin (Nir) 69 71 65 72, G Coetzee (RSA) 72 66 67 72, J Veerman (USA) 76 65 68 68, R Macintyre (Sco) 71 73 70 63, A Saddier (Fra) 72 72 68 65, M Hoey (Nir) 66 74 69 68,
278 M Nixon (Eng) 69 71 73 65,
279 J Lima (Por) 75 68 70 66, T Murray (Eng) 72 68 70 69, B Stow (Eng) 75 67 69 68, L Jensen (Den) 71 67 72 69, S Ngige (Ken) 68 72 70 69, S Soderberg (Swe) 70 72 70 67,
280 M Schmitt (Ger) 69 70 73 68, E Ferguson (Sco) 73 69 71 67, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 67 75 70 68, M Schneider (Ger) 70 69 70 71,
281 R Paratore (Ita) 74 70 68 69, I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 71 68 73 69, P Angles (Esp) 73 70 69 69, P Figueiredo (Por) 72 68 71 70, M Fenasse (Fra) 75 69 68 69, R Gouveia (Por) 74 66 72 69, H Park (Kor) 69 70 76 66, C Syme (Sco) 71 70 70 70, K Joshi (Ind) 72 69 69 71, O Lengden (Swe) 74 70 72 65,
282 S Tiley (Eng) 73 70 69 70, C Blomstrand (Swe) 70 72 66 74, S Manley (Wal) 71 65 76 70, B Easton (RSA) 72 70 71 69, G Fdez-Castaño (Esp) 71 66 73 72, R McGowan (Eng) 74 68 70 70, M Simonsen (Den) 73 71 71 67,
283 C Sordet (Fra) 70 73 71 69, O Wilson (Eng) 72 70 67 74,
284 N McCarthy (Eng) 73 71 70 70, K Koivu (Fin) 70 69 72 73, N Cullen (Aus) 72 70 73 69,
285 A Cockerill (Can) 69 68 70 78, S Forsström (Swe) 74 70 70 71, B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 73 67 74, B Evans (Eng) 72 72 72 69, K Reitan (Nor) 73 68 69 75,
286 D Boote (Wal) 69 75 71 71, M Lafeber (Ned) 72 70 72 72, N Geyger (Chi) 76 67 73 70, J Senior (Eng) 69 72 70 75,
287 C Hill (Sco) 71 71 72 73, J Catlin (USA) 71 71 71 74,
288 D Cooke (USA) 70 71 69 78, J Winther (Den) 80 64 72 72, H Sturehed (Swe) 73 69 73 73, H Leon (Chi) 67 72 77 72,
289 J Madoya (Ken) 71 71 72 75, H Joannes (Bel) 70 73 68 78, J Girrbach (Sui) 72 71 71 75,
217 B Virto (Esp) 75 68 74 0,
218 O Farr (Wal) 70 74 74 0, J Dean (Eng) 75 68 75 0,
220 M Orrin (Eng) 74 70 76 0,
224 D Van Driel (Ned) 71 73 80 0,
145 R De Sousa (Sui) 77 68 0 0, G Havret (Fra) 75 70 0 0, S Sharma (Ind) 74 71 0 0, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 74 71 0 0, G Snow (Ken) 73 72 0 0, P Langfors (Swe) 73 72 0 0, L Gagli (Ita) 73 72 0 0, M Manassero (Ita) 73 72 0 0, S Brown (Eng) 73 72 0 0, D Borda (Esp) 73 72 0 0, D Huizing (Ned) 72 73 0 0, G Moynihan (Irl) 72 73 0 0, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 71 74 0 0, Y Liu (Chn) 70 75 0 0, D Indiza Anyonyi (Ken) 69 76 0 0,
146 G Bourdy (Fra) 76 70 0 0, S Chege (am) (Ken) 75 71 0 0, D Wakhu (Ken) 74 72 0 0, C Berardo (Fra) 74 72 0 0, N Simwa (Ken) 74 72 0 0, S Vincent (Zim) 73 73 0 0, S Gros (Fra) 73 73 0 0, A Knappe (Ger) 72 74 0 0, C Lloyd (Eng) 71 75 0 0, M Siem (Ger) 71 75 0 0,
147 D Opati (Ken) 76 71 0 0, C Braeunig (Ger) 75 72 0 0, S Han (USA) 75 72 0 0, C Hanson (Eng) 75 72 0 0, D Gavins (Eng) 73 74 0 0, J Thomson (Eng) 73 74 0 0, L Canter (Eng) 73 74 0 0, T Omuli (Ken) 72 75 0 0, A Rozner (Fra) 71 76 0 0, P Mejow (Ger) 71 76 0 0,
148 P Kasozi (Uga) 77 71 0 0, R Evans (Eng) 75 73 0 0, J Choi (Kor) 72 76 0 0,
149 D Nduva (am) (Ken) 76 73 0 0, M Jordan (Eng) 76 73 0 0, M Iten (Sui) 75 74 0 0, C Ross (Sco) 74 75 0 0,
150 C Wangai (Ken) 79 71 0 0, H Choi (Kor) 73 77 0 0, E Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 72 78 0 0, J Abbott (Eng) 72 78 0 0,
151 R Dawson (Irl) 83 68 0 0, S Fernandez (Esp) 78 73 0 0, O Obura (Ken) 78 73 0 0, E De La Riva (Esp) 76 75 0 0, U Coussaud (Fra) 75 76 0 0, D Lawson (Aus) 72 79 0 0,
152 D Stewart (Sco) 74 78 0 0, D Odhiambo (Ken) 74 78 0 0,
154 R Charania (Ken) 78 76 0 0,
155 E Mudanyi (am) (Ken) 73 82 0 0,
157 J Okello (Ken) 80 77 0 0, M Wiegele (Aut) 77 80 0 0,
158 A Nandwa (Ken) 79 79 0 0,
160 K Mutahi (am) (Ken) 76 84 0 0,
161 S Gregory (Eng) 81 80 0 0,
163 B Mogire (am) (Ken) 77 86 0 0,
164 M Kisia (am) (Ken) 83 81 0 0,
** E Kofstad (Nor) 71 RT 0 0, M Kawamura (Jpn) RT 0 0 0