Andrea Pavan was delighted with his D+D Real Czech Masters defence after posting a final round 65 to grab a share of third place.
Last year's champion began the day seven shots off the lead but made eight birdies in his first 15 holes to get within one of Thomas Pieters at the top of the leaderboard at one stage.
After coming so close to holing his fast birdie putt from around 40 feet at the 16th, Pavan's charge stalled when he dropped his only shot of the day at the 17th to slip back to 16 under par.
That saw the Italian finish alongside Englishman Sam Horsfield in a tie for third, three shots behind champion Pieters.
After his round, he said: "I'm happy, obviously, with the round.
"I felt like I played pretty well over the first three days, even yesterday - I think I had one bad swing but I wasn't really making any putts from outside 12 feet.
"And all of a sudden today I made a 13 footer on the first and missed a short one on the second and then started making most of my putts.
"Then the conditions were a bit trickier which made it better in a way - I feel like I gave myself lots of chances and I was converting them.
"Unfortunately at the end - 17 is a tough hole. I made a bad swing at the wrong time but I felt like I needed a few more birdies anyway to really have a chance.
"The game plan was the same as yesterday, just trying to play hole by hole. We have a good game plan for this course. I was just hoping to make some putts. I was telling my coach last night I felt like I was due and they came all at once.
"It was nice. It's never easy defending a tournament. Obviously I came here with some good results which made it better - and some good form.
"Out there you try to do your best. I had so many guys in front of me so I needed something amazing to happen. It was close enough so I'm definitely happy with today."
