Marc Leishman shot a fabulous closing 62 to claim his first PGA Tour win at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut after Charley Hoffman threw away the chance of victory.
Leishman edged Masters champion Bubba Watson and Hoffman, by one shot after a bogey-free round saw him move to 14 under par at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell.
Victory was Hoffman's for the taking, but he finished six-five on the two closing par fours and let a two-stroke lead slip away.
Overnight leader Brian Davis could only manage a level-par 70, leaving the Englishman in a four-way tie for third and still awaiting his first win on the American tour.
Surprisingly, Leishman's superb round was not the best of the day as US Ryder Cup player Hunter Mahan birdied eight of the last 11 holes for a nine-under 61.
Leishman began the day six off the lead at six under but built up momentum with birdies at the second and fourth before moving firmly into contention with three in a row from the sixth.
He made back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14 and another at 17 to put the pressure on those still out on the course.
He played down his chances at the time, telling pgatour.com: "I probably think I'm one or two short and that's the attitude I'm going to have, so I'm not going to be disappointed when or if someone comes in at 15 (under par)."
Watson could find no answer, making just one birdie on the back nine, but Hoffman was seven under for his round with two holes to play and looking set for victory.
But he found water off the 17th tee and then hit his approach through the green and could not get up and down.
He would still have forced a play-off had he parred 18, but hit the rough and then a bunker to leave himself with a 17-foot putt. He left that two feet short and was left to hole out disconsolately for a share of second place.
That left Leishman to celebrate victory, around two hours after finishing his round.
Leishman told pgatour.com: "I haven't got a word to describe how I feel.
"It's unexpected, definitely when I finished, but it's awesome.
"I was just up there watching a bit of soccer, then flicked it over to the golf, went down and hit a few balls, a few putts - I'm glad it was just a practice session, not a warm-up session."
Hoffman was angered more by his closing bogey than the six at the previous hole.
"I don't think 17 sets up visually well for anybody," he said. "It's a tough tee shot and I'm not the first person to hit it in that water. I'm not going to be the last person to hit it in the water. I just hit a bad shot.
"What I did on 18 was pretty pathetic.
"Pretty easy drive for me and fanned it out to the right. Pretty poor second shot, pretty poor bunker shot and even worse putt, so when it's said and done obviously a bad finish and bad taste in my mouth."
Watson's problems came at the 15th, a reachable par five which should favour a long hitter but has always caused problems for the Florida-born left-hander.
"I've hit it in the water so many times and made par so many times after hitting the water, I'm used to it," he said after doing just that today.
"It's a tough hole. Obviously I'd like that swing back to have a chance for birdie."
Davis was alongside South African Tim Clark and American pair John Rollins and Roland Thatcher two shots off top spot after a round containing two birdies and two bogeys.
Clark also suffered at the 17th, missing a two-foot putt and later describing the end of his challenge as "like taking a bullet to the head".
The top 10 was completed by last year's winner Fredrik Jacobsen, Matt Kuchar and Brendon de Jonge on 10 under.
A shot further back was Mahan, who made the halfway cut with only a stroke to spare, after a bogey-double bogey finish, and yesterday's secondary cut right on the line before belatedly exploding into life today.
"I've been swinging it great all week; I just got some putts to fall in and got a little momentum early and kind of rode the wave coming in," he said of a career-best round just one shot outside the course record.
He shared 11th place with compatriots Vaughn Taylor and Chez Reavie and Ireland's Padraig Harrington, who could only finish with a three-birdie round of 69 after coming into contention with a 65 yesterday.
Rory Sabbatini provided the highlight of the final day's play with a hole in one at the par-three 16th on his way to an eight-under-par tournament total. The South African's tee-shot just cleared the water to pitch on the front of the green, then spun left and rolled into the cup.
Collated final round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Travelers Championship, The TPC at River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut, United States of America
(USA unless stated, par 70):
266 Marc Leishman (Aus) 68 66 70 62
267 Charley Hoffman 67 67 67 66, Bubba Watson 66 71 65 65
268 Brian Davis (Eng) 67 67 64 70, John Rollins 68 67 65 68, Roland Thatcher 66 67 65 70, Tim Clark (Rsa) 66 69 66 67
269 Brendon De Jonge 72 65 66 66, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 65 66 70 68, Matt Kuchar 67 68 66 68
270 Hunter Mahan 70 69 70 61, Vaughn Taylor 70 70 65 65, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69 67 65 69, Chez Reavie 66 71 65 68
271 Will Claxton 65 67 69 70, Heath Slocum 70 66 69 66, Cameron Tringale 69 70 68 64
272 Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 68 68 68 68, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 71 66 68 67, Gary Christian (Eng) 66 68 72 66, James Driscoll 68 66 66 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 68 65 67 72, Tommy Gainey 66 68 70 68
273 Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 65 70 68, Nathan Green (Aus) 65 69 70 69, Bo Van Pelt 70 67 67 69, Brian Harman 70 65 69 69, Billy Horschel 71 67 67 68
274 Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 68 69 69 68, Billy Mayfair 68 66 71 69, Webb Simpson 66 69 68 71, Blake Adams 69 64 70 71, Charlie null Beljan 73 67 68 66, Keegan Bradley 68 68 70 68, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 68 66 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 68 64 70 72
275 Jerry Kelly 66 72 68 69, Chris Stroud 71 68 69 67, Tim Herron 72 68 67 68, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 67 69 69 70, Chris Couch 72 67 66 70, Derek Lamely 68 71 68 68, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 67 68 69 71, J.B. Holmes 70 62 75 68, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 69 67 68, Brandt Jobe 67 72 64 72
276 Lucas Glover 70 66 71 69, Chris Di Marco 67 70 71 68, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 69 70 68, Kevin Streelman 68 69 67 72, Billy Hurley III 69 67 72 68, J J Henry 73 67 65 71, Jeff Maggert 69 66 72 69, Ken Duke 67 69 73 67, Roberto Castro 67 70 71 68, Rocco Mediate 66 70 69 71, Johnson Wagner 69 70 69 68, Ryan Moore 72 67 69 68, Patrick Reed 73 66 68 69
277 Kyle Stanley 70 67 70 70, Gavin Coles (Aus) 73 65 70 69
278 Ian Poulter (Eng) 68 71 68 71, Richard H. Lee 72 67 69 70
279 Bryce Molder 71 67 67 74, Zach Johnson 72 65 70 72, Harris English 69 71 67 72
280 Sean O'Hair 70 68 69 73
281 Graham Delaet (Can) 68 68 70 75
283 Arjun Atwal (Ind) 71 68 70 74, Jamie Lovemark 70 70 68 75
