In the land of the rising sun, Gemma Dryburgh ushered in a new dawn for Scottish women’s golf on the global stage.

With great poise and panache, the 29-year-old Aberdonian finished the TOTO Japan Classic with a flourish and closed with a surging seven-under 65 for a 20-under aggregate and a four-shot win over Kana Nagai. It was her maiden victory on the LPGA Tour and the first by a Scot on the biggest circuit in the women’s game since the indefatigable Catriona Matthew won the last of her four titles in 2011.

Filling Matthew’s shoes will take some doing given that the decorated North Berwick golfer carried the saltire for so long, she just about ended up with calloused hands. Dryburgh, however, has made impressive strides since stepping out on to the LPGA circuit in 2018. This was the breakthrough she has craved.

“This has been a dream of mine for a long time,” said the former Curtis Cup player. “A lot of hard work has gone into this, so it means so much as it’s a life changing win.”

As well as a $300,000 first prize, Dryburgh’s win secures her a place in the LPGA’s CME Group Tour Championship, which has one of the richest prizes in the female game. All of these nice earners should help with the Christmas shopping.

Along with Matthew, Janice Moodie and Kathryn Imrie, Dryburgh became the fourth Scot to win an LPGA Tour title while she continued Britain’s purposeful flurry of success at the top table after wins by English duo Charley Hull and Jodi Ewart Shadoff over the past month or so.

Dryburgh certainly enjoyed her week in the far east. After pushing herself into contention at halfway she told reporters that she had savoured the full Japanese dining experience of eating ramen while sitting on the floor.

Yesterday, she just about had to be scraped off the ceiling with elation.

“It’s overwhelming to be honest,” she said with a jubilant beam that was as bright as the neon lights of Tokyo.

Starting the final day one shot behind 54-hole leader Momoko Ueda, Dryburgh revelled in the cut-and-thrust at the sharp end and notched her first birdie of the day on the fourth with a putt of some 20 feet.

She added her second on the seventh after flighting an approach to within three feet and the Scot took the lead at the turn after Ueda bogeyed the ninth.

A significant moment came at the 11th when Ueda racked up a ruinous double bogey and Dryburgh made a decisive birdie from four feet.

“That was kind of a turning point in the round I’d say,” added Dryburgh. “I had a really good shot there in round three and hit the same club today, so I was confident I could do it again. It was quite a tough one too.”

From that point it was a glorious procession to a coronation. Dryburgh reeled off four more birdies over her last six holes and could have been carried over the finishing line waving from the comfort of a sedan chair.

“The vibes are just so good,” said Dryburgh who continues to grow in stature on the LPGA Tour after slowly but surely finding her feet over the last couple of years. “I’m lapping it up.”

She certainly did yesterday. Despite her relative inexperience of being in contention at an LPGA event coming down the stretch, Dryburgh embraced the challenge with assured authority.

“I was surprisingly calm during the final day,” she said. “I dreamt of this moment, I thought I’d be super, super nervous. I was nervous, I’m not going to lie. But I was incredibly calm to honest. I focused on my breathing and that really got me through.”