Jorge Campillo was left to rue one bad hole as he finished second for the fifth time in his European Tour career at the Oman Open.
The Spaniard was making his 225th appearance at Al Mouj Golf but has yet to taste victory as a professional after a stellar amateur career.
He opened with an encouraging 69 in Muscat and was in contention at four under as he walked to the fifth tee in round two.
The 32-year-old then put his ball in the water three times on his way to a sextuple bogey nine that contributed to a 78 and sent him tumbling down the leaderboard.
To his great credit, Campillo fought back brilliantly, signing for a 66 in round three and sharing the lead on the final circuit before he bogeyed the sixth and was overtaken by the fast finishing Kurt Kitayama.
"It was playing almost as hard as Saturday morning," he said. "I played solid, I did a good job and I'm quite happy.
"On day two I played great too, I just made a nine on a par three, that was the bad thing.
"I played great all week, I think I hit it great, I putted well too so all in all it was a good week."