Henrik Stenson took the lead in the Race to Dubai and then declared that the battle to be Europe's Number One will go right to the wire.
The Swede arrived at the WGC-HSBC Champions second in the standings behind Danny Willett but while the Englishman finished 14 over par, a closing 65 moved Stenson to 16 under and a share of second.
A birdie from Daniel Berger on the 16th had pushed Stenson to third in Shanghai but he rolled in a putt from the fringe to get back into a share of second and you could see what it meant to him as he unleashed a fist-pumping celebration.
Rory McIlroy finished a shot behind the 40 year old and remained third in the Race to Dubai, with Stenson predicting an exciting battle over the next three weeks in the Final Series.
"I'm chasing Danny on the Race to Dubai and so is Rory, so I could see Rory was going at it," he said. "So I just tried to keep up and it was nice to sneak that one in the last to go one ahead of him.
"It was a sweet putt to make on the last.
"It's going to be tight all the way to the end and that's the way we like it. It would be nice to go into the last one knowing that if you win in Dubai, you win the overall.
"I'm going to try and put some more good golf out there and some more birdies."
It's going to be tight all the way to the end and that's the way we like it - Henrik Stenson
Willett is the only member of the leading trio set to play in all three Final Series events and that could give him the edge over McIlroy and Stenson down the stretch.
The Englishman has two wins this season including his maiden Major Championship at the Masters Tournament, while Stenson also won his first Major at The Open Championship along with the BMW International Open.
McIlroy tasted glory on home soil at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation along with eight other top tens from 11 events, but he insists he will have no complaints if he doesn't finish as top dog for the third year in a row.
"If I have somewhat of a chance going into Dubai, that's great," he said. "But if not, I think over the course of the season, they have had big wins and played well. They are two Major champions, so I'm okay with that."
