Scottish caddie Marc Crane earned his salt at Wentworth last night – and made sure his boss picked up a cheque for over £630,000.

Prestwick man Crane was on the bag of Bristol’s Chris Wood as the Englishman claimed the biggest win of his career in the BMW PGA Championship.

Wood closed with a three-under 69 for a nine-under 279 and a slender one shot win over the fast-finishing Swede, Rikard Karlberg, with Masters champ, Danny Willett, in third

But he endured a tense finale to his round as his four shot lead with just seven to play frittered away.

After Wood had leaked a stroke on the 17th to see his lead reduced to one Crane put his own nerves to one side to offer cautious, considered wisdom on the 18th.

Wood, who had raced to the turn in a record-equalling 29 to bolster his title charge, was keen to have a go for the green with his second shot on the treacherous par-5 but Crane convinced him to play it safe.

“I was a bit unsure of the situation and I only had a 6-iron in but Mark said ‘just lay up,” said Wood, who knocked a couple of easy sand wedges to the green and two-putted for his five.

Crane, who used to carry the bag of Scottish Tour champ Richie Ramsay, added: “On the front nine he played like the world No 1 and on the second nine he was like the world No 1000.

“But there was a lot of pressure. My mouth was dry too. It wasn’t pretty coming in but who cares when you win.”

Wood, who is now in line for a Ryder Cup debut, agreed with that. “It’s very hard to win … and I proved that,” added the Englishman, who was three strokes off the lead after 54-holes. “But this is huge for me.”

As overnight frontrunners Scott Hend and Tyrell Hatton toppled backwards on the final day, Karlberg came rampaging up the standings with a 65 to set the clubhouse target on eight-under.

A bogey on the first hole was hardly an indicator of what was to come but he swiftly repaired the early damage by holing his 9-iron tee-shot on the par-3 second for a hole-in-one on a surging outward half of 30. Willet finished in third on his own after a closing 71 for seven-under 281.

There wasn’t much to write home about as far as the Scots were concerned. David Drysdale, was the best of the tartan army on a one-over 289 with Richie Ramsay and Glasgow’s Scott Jamieson trudging in on a 290 and a 291 respectively.