But he missed the chance to climb a few more rungs up the order when he dropped five strokes in the last six holes in a final round 75 in the AGF-Allianz Open Côtes d'Armor Bretagne.
Joint second overnight, his lapse dropped the Styal rookie into a tie for 15th on two-over-par as Joakim Haeggman took the glory seven shots ahead of him.
The Swede, who made a miraculous up-and-down on the final hole to save par, carded a 68 to claim the title by a shot from England's Marcus Higley.
Meanwhile, Irish eyes were smiling once again for Darren Clarke when he clinched an emotional victory with a heroic final-hole birdie at the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai.
The Ulsterman drained a 40-foot putt on the 18th hole to beat a gallant Robert-Jan Derksen, of the Netherlands, by one shot and end his three-year title drought.
It marked a welcome return to the winners' circle for the Ryder Cup stalwart, who has endured a difficult past few years following the death of his wife Heather through cancer in 2006 and a subsequent dip in form.
Clarke carded a final round of 73 in tough conditions for an eight-under- par 280 aggregate for his 11th career victory on the European Tour and his first since the 2003 WGC - NEC Invitational.
"This one is very special," said a jubilant Clarke. "This is the toughest one of all of them and it's nice to get back up to where I feel my golf should be.
"It's nice to win again and it's a really, really good feeling."
Three bogeys over a four-hole stretch from the 14th opened the door for Derksen, but Clarke had the final say and holed his winning putt.
HAIGH Hall teaching professional Craig Corrigan fired a one-under-par 67 to win the Brough Women's pro-am by a shot.
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