IN the end, everybody went home happy.

Oliver Wilson emerged from the golfing wilderness with the first European Tour victory of a topsy-turvy career, Rory McIlroy enjoyed an amble around the Old Course on his dad's 55th birthday, Richie Ramsay's rehabilitation gathered pace and Chris Doak safeguarded his place at the top table for another year. The final day of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship had more stories than a box set of Jackanory DVDs. Come tea time, it was Wilson who was reborn in the cradle of the game.

His plucky two-under 70 for a 17-under 271 secured him a slender one-shot victory over Ramsay, McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood and gave the Englishman a whole new lease of sporting life.

A Ryder Cup player just six years ago, Wilson has plumbed the kind of depths that must have left him feeling like he was playing golf on Atlantis for the last few seasons. No European Tour category, toiling on the second-tier Challenge Tour, languishing at 792nd in the world rankings and playing on an invitation this week? In this game of wildly fluctuating fortunes, Wilson's recent horror story became something of a fairytale. It also earned him a fortune. A whopping cheque for almost £490,000 - a wee bit more than the £16,000 he had cobbled together in the whole of 2014 - propelled him into 39th from 252nd in the Race to Dubai and gave him a two-year exemption for the tour as well as a host of new, potentially lucrative, opportunities.

After nine runners-up finishes during his successful years, this was a very sweet and very well-deserved triumph for this popular 34-year-old from Mansfield. In his 229th European Tour event, the dream finally came true for a man who had dared to keep believing.

"I played my way around the course and kind of won the tournament three times in my sleep last night," said Wilson, who was runner-up in the Dunhill back in 2009 before the slump kicked in. "This is a dream come true.

"Three, four weeks ago, it was looking pretty grim for my career. But it's just amazing what is possible playing professional golf. Every week we have an opportunity and it's up to us to take it and for so long I haven't taken it. But to come here, to the home of golf with Rory, the best player in the world, in front of me and to win, is incredible. It means the world."

With a three-shot lead going into the final round, Wilson swiftly found himself under attack as those behind him mounted a series of menacing assaults. McIlroy plonked one in the Swilcan Burn up the first and racked up a double-bogey six but responded with four straight birdies to get back on track. Ramsay, meanwhile, was putting together a polished and purposeful performance as he manoeuvred himself into position.

Having missed three months of the season with a variety of niggling injuries, the Aberdonian's resurgence has been impressive with his recent record showing finishes of 17th, ninth, eighth and fourth.

He almost knocked off a third tour win of his career at the home of golf. Having reeled off three birdies in a row around the turn, a super approach into 14 spawned another birdie which took him into the lead, before a putt crept in the side door on the 15th which doubled his advantage. A leaked shot on 16 halted his momentum, though, and when a par putt on 17 horseshoed out, Ramsay's title hopes dribbled away.

"It is an inch here and there, I just need to find that extra inch which will pull me over in a big tournament but I don't think it is that far away," said an upbeat Ramsay, who achieved his goal of qualifying for the tour's Final Series.

"After a pretty serious injury scare, your head starts looking at things completely differently and you think about what you would do if you couldn't play golf because of it. That is why I am not bothered about not winning. I gave it 100% and that is all I could do."

After his calamity on the first, McIlroy's ambitions came to grief on the 17th when he short-sided himself with his approach and ended up putting into the Road Hole bunker while attempting to negotiate a perilous route to the flag. The bogey there was decisive as he posted a 67 for a 272. "I cost myself the tournament in the space of 20 yards, at the front of the green on the first and over at the Road Hole," said McIlroy, who was partnering his dad, Gerry, in the pro-am affair.

It was Wilson who held it together superbly, however. His 4-iron into the 16th, which led to a vital birdie, was "probably the best shot of my life" while a brave and brilliantly executed up and down on the treacherous 17th for par cemented his place at the top. It has taken him a long time on this winding road but Wilson's win was worth the wait.