Winner of the Hong Kong Open in December, Jacobson hurt his left wrist at the start of this year and had not played since missing the halfway cut in the Heineken Classic in Australia on January 31.

But in dramatic fashion he beat Londoner Brian Davis and Welsh pair Bradley Dredge and Jamie Donaldson by a single shot.

Jacobson chipped in at the first, then at the third to drop only one shot after driving out of bounds. But the one at the 526-yard 17th was the one that settled the race for the €205,000 first prize.

He was in a five-way tie with Davis, Dredge, Donaldson and long-time leader Greg Owen at the time, but finding the target from short of the green put him two clear and enabled him to bogey the last.

“Coming back to win is unbelievable,” said Jacobson, who moves from 33rd to fifth on the European Order of Merit thanks to his five-under-par total of 283.

“I’ve not been swinging it well and today I thought it was going to be heart and brains that won it. I had a funny feeling that maybe really good things were going to happen.

“But all I was looking for from the week was for the wrist to hold up and get four rounds in. I’ve not even been able to practise my short game much because of the injury, but I did really, really well around the greens.”

Davis, also runner-up on his last start in Madeira, summed it up when he commented: “When someone chips in three times in the round there is not much you can do about it.”

Jacobson broke the course record by two with his opening 64 and even though he played the remaining 54 holes in three over par that was good enough.

Dredge won his first tour title in Madeira – by eight shots – and a second successive victory became a possibility when he returned a 68 to post the clubhouse target.

That round included birdies on the two toughest holes. He chipped in for one of only three birdies all day at the 234-yard 11th, where a diamond tee was up for grabs for a hole-in-one, and then hit a three-iron to 12 feet on the 481-yard par four 14th.

But Dredge lost a ball at the short 16th, hooking into the bushes bordering the beach, and left a 15-foot putt on the last just short.

Donaldson achieved his best result on tour after also finishing with a 68.

“I don’t think I could have done any better,” said the 27-year-old, although as it turned out missing a 10-foot eagle chance on the 17th cost him dear.

Owen now has 20 top 10 finishes on the circuit, but his closing bogey means he still has to finish better than third.

He was two clear for a short time after a 50-foot birdie putt on the 13th, but he bogeyed the next – a hole where he went out of bounds in the second and third rounds – and missed a four-foot birdie putt at the 17th.