“On the last hole, I walked off the tee and felt a cool breeze, and it wasn’t cool out there.”

Dallas-born Verplank was 17 when he first met Nelson, and his only regret is that the golfing great, who died seven months ago at the age of 94, was not present to witness the victory.

It was nonetheless a sweet moment for the 42-year-old, who rated his fifth PGA Tour victory by far the biggest of his career.

However, Verplank, making his 21st appearance in the event, had to sweat to the very end to win, dodging a bullet when Donald missed a 10-foot birdie putt at the last, before somehow keeping his hands steady enough to sink his winning putt from just outside two feet.

“I’ve never been that light-headed and nervous and shaky over a putt in my life,” he continued. “I was really calm until I passed out of that two-footer. It was an out-of-body experience.

“The only thing that made it hard was it was to win and the greens were bumpy. I hit it hard enough and it went in, and then I looked up and said ’thank you’.”

Verplank should also have thanked Donald, who led by three shots after six holes of the final round in ideal conditions at the Four Seasons TPC.

But Verplank charged to the front with five birdies in a sizzling eight-hole stretch, and he had some help from Donald, who double-bogeyed the par-four ninth to cough up the lead at the turn.

Verplank never surrendered the lead after that, although Donald fought back, cutting the margin to one-shot with a nice birdie at the par-five 16th.

But Verplank preserved his lead with a stellar par at the par-three 17th, where he executed a near-perfect long bunker shot, splashing his ball to inside two feet, before both players parred the last.