It ain’t over til it’s over. For 17 holes of the concluding day of the BMW PGA Championship, Francesco Molinari had put together another round of delightful precision that would have had the engineers of the title sponsors offering him a job in the fine-tuning garage.

Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, had been misfiring and spluttering like something that would fail its MOT. That was until the late drama.

With a three shot lead standing on the 18th tee, Molinari plotted a sensible, neat and tidy path up the par-five but his routine wedge to the green for his third shot wasn’t his best and his ball nearly trundled into the water amid much oohing and aahing. “I got a bit of luck at the right time,” he conceded.

McIlroy, with a birdie on the 17th, had gone on a late offensive and had already rifled a quite terrific approach to some 20-feet to set up an eagle opportunity. He couldn’t could he?

As Molinari left himself with a jittery six-footer for par, McIlroy had a chance to really pile on the pressure but his effort down the hill for a three reared up agonisingly short and he signed for a one-under 71. Asked what he was thinking as McIlroy’s putt flirted with the hole, Molinari said with a grin: “You don’t want to know.”

Now with two putts to win it, Molinari stood firm and took just one to secure his fifth tour crown. His bogey-free four-under 68 gave him a 17-under total and a two stroke victory. It was a thoroughly deserved triumph for the 35-year-old.

With five top-10 finishes in his last six appearances here at Wentworth, including a second place 12 months ago, this was a conquest which had been on the cards.

Having started his first round with a bogey on the opening green on Thursday, Molinari would drop just one more shot in his remaining 71 holes. His last leaked stroke came on the 10th during the second round and he became the first winner of the European Tour’s flagship event to go bogey-free over the weekend since Colin Montgomerie in 1999. His cards were so manicured they should have appeared as an exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show.

With a first win since 2016, Molinari’s season has taken on a new complexion with the race for a place on the Ryder Cup team heating up.

“I think I was too far back in the standings to be seriously thinking about it but now I’ve put myself in a much better position,” said the two-time Ryder Cup player.

Molinari may have claimed the ultimate honours but at least McIlroy was to the fore in one respect on the concluding day.

A few finger-wagging folk had criticised the Northern Irishman’s lack of golfing etiquette during Saturday’s third round when he clattered three different people with errant drives but didn’t holler a warning. It was a different story yesterday.

Over the first couple of holes of the final round he was so far right at times he made Jacob Rees Mogg look like a hippy liberal. “Fore right” came McIlroy’s cry after his very first tee-shot. That early error provided an ominous sign as the 29-year-old, who was sharing the lead with Molinari heading into the closing 18 holes, toiled through the afternoon.

The leading duo may have been four clear of the field heading into the final round but there were one or two players in that chasing pack who were more than capable of mounting a charge.

The canny, composed Alex Noren may not come across as the most vivacious of characters but his record in final rounds is far from modest. Last year, of course, he won the BMW PGA title from seven shots behind with a 62 while he won the Nedbank Challenge from six behind the previous year. He even managed to win the Nordea Masters a few years ago with a closing 77. Noren did lead by 11 with one round to play, mind you.

When he got to five-under for his round through 12 holes he was in the merry midst of it but his 67 eventually left him in a share of third on 14-under.

The Scandinavian assault was bolstered by Lucas Bjerregaard who came barging into contention with four birdies in a row from the 10th in a charging 65 as he joined Noren on the 14-under mark.

With plenty going on around him, McIlroy couldn’t get himself to indulge in the birdie feast. His first birdie of the day didn’t arrive until the eighth but back-to-back bogeys at nine and 10 left him with too much to do. Indeed, until he made another birdie on the 17th, he was the only player in the top-15 not to be under-par for the round.

His late burst caused some heebie-jeebies for Molinari as he tried to close out the win.

“Over the last couple of holes, Rory is thinking eagle, eagle and I’m thinking par, par,” he said. I couldn’t be too aggressive.”

In the end, though, this was an Italian job well done by Molinari.