Carl Pettersson staked his claim for a place on the European Ryder Cup team with a two-stroke victory in the Wyndham Championship on Sunday.
Recovering from two successive soft bogeys that left him behind with seven holes left, Pettersson, a Swede who has lived in North Carolina for half his of his 30 years, roared back with three late birdies to beat Scott McCarron (68) by two strokes, picking up $918,000 for his third PGA Tour victory.
"I'm thrilled. This is home for me," he said after carding 68 to finish at 21-under-par 259, a record low score in the historic event that dates back to 1938.
Pettersson is the third Swede to win on the PGA Tour this year, and the second to prevail in Greensboro, following 1999 champion Jesper Parnevik.
And though Pettersson remains a long shot to earn an automatic berth on the European side, he must be one of the names Nick Faldo will consider when he makes his two captain's picks in two weeks time.
Pettersson, who moved to Greensboro at the age of 15 when his father, a Volvo executive, received a job transfer, admits he feels more American than European, but that does not mean he wants to sit out the Ryder cup.
"I'm Swedish, but I really feel American, to be honest with you," he said. "My heritage is European and I would love to play on Nick's team. I'm going to be playing hard for Europe if I make that team."
Pettersson began the final round with a two-stroke lead over McCarron, who quickly erased the deficit with two early birdies.
Pettersson edged one stroke clear at the turn, before making a mess of the next two holes, three-putting from the fringe at the 10th and dropping another shot at the 11th after missing the green and then hitting a mediocre chip.
Suddenly, McCarron had the lead and the momentum, and he sensed a chance to go further ahead after hitting his tee shot to 10-feet at the par-three 12th.
Pettersson sprayed his tee shot right of the green and chipped down to 13 feet. He was in deep trouble, potentially on the verge of going three shots down, but he coolly drained the par putt. McCarron subsequently missed not only his birdie chance, but also a three-footer to save par, walking off with a demoralising bogey that left them tied up again.
"I think that was the turning point, me making par there on 12," said Pettersson. "I told myself on the next tee box I've got to put the pressure on Scott and hit a great tee shot. I had momentum and I felt I had to be aggressive on that hole."
McCarron, who has not won since 2001 and is on the comeback after major elbow surgery two years ago, admitted he blew it on hole 12.
"I let it go at 12," he said. "Carl played well but I certainly had my chances today.
"Second place is tough to swallow right now but I'll probably be pretty happy when I realise I've got a job for next year. That was my goal coming back from rehab."
Rich Beem roared home with a 63 to finish third on 17 under, earning a spot in the first of the tour's four-event play-off series that starts on Thursday.
Collated final round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 70):
259 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 64 61 66 68
261 Scott McCarron 65 64 64 68
263 Rich Beem 70 67 63 63
264 J J Henry 70 66 66 62, Martin Laird (Sco) 63 74 64 63
265 John Senden (Aus) 66 66 67 66, Tim Clark (Rsa) 64 67 68 66, Kevin Streelman 66 64 67 68
266 Jerry Kelly 66 65 68 67, Michael Letzig 67 66 67 66, Briny Baird 67 68 62 69, Bob Sowards 65 66 68 67, Shane Bertsch 67 68 67 64, Mark Wilson 68 67 67 64
267 Vaughn Taylor 67 67 66 67, Justin Bolli 68 66 68 65, Scott Sterling 64 71 64 68, Lee Janzen 67 66 67 67, Garrett Willis 64 64 69 70
268 Kent Jones 66 68 65 69, Patrick Sheehan 66 71 65 66, Danny Lee (Nzl) 68 66 67 67, Lucas Glover 66 68 66 68, Jay Williamson 67 67 67 67, John Riegger 67 65 67 69
269 Paul Casey (Eng) 70 66 67 66, Zach Johnson 66 70 69 64, Jason Dufner 66 69 66 68, Tom Pernice Jnr. 68 66 69 66
270 Y. E Yang (Kor) 67 69 66 68, David Lutterus (Rsa) 69 64 72 65, Bob Estes 71 66 67 66, Robert Garrigus 66 66 71 67, Jon Mills (Can) 68 69 65 68, Mark Brooks 68 66 68 68
271 Billy Andrade 66 69 67 69, Charles Warren 67 66 69 69, George McNeill 68 67 68 68, Stephen Poole 66 71 69 65, Marc Turnesa 69 68 65 69
272 Bob Tway 70 65 69 68, Charley Hoffman 68 69 66 69, Ben Crane 68 66 70 68, Eric Axley 67 69 64 72, Joe Ogilvie 69 68 68 67, David Toms 68 67 71 66, Glen Day 66 69 69 68
273 Mark Calcavecchia 67 69 70 67, Brian Gay 67 68 66 72
274 John Daly 70 67 66 71, Tom Byrum 71 66 68 69, Nick Flanagan (Aus) 68 69 70 67
275 Steve Marino 65 68 71 71, Jeff Maggert 66 70 70 69, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 67 70 71 67, Kyle Thompson 68 67 71 69, Cody Freeman 70 67 70 68, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 69 67 69 70, Bob Heintz 63 72 72 68
276 Joe Durant 67 69 70 70, Davis Love III 66 70 71 69, Jeff Gove 68 66 73 69, Todd Demsey 69 68 68 71, Bo Van Pelt 67 66 72 71, Ken Duke 65 71 71 69
277 Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 71 64 75 67, Mark Hensby (Aus) 66 66 75 70, Jason Gore 67 69 70 71
278 Dean Wilson 66 71 71 70, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 68 68 73 69, Douglas Labelle 70 67 70 71, Brandt Snedeker 66 68 74 70, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 66 69 69 74, Frank Lickliter II 68 68 71 71
279 Ted Purdy 68 68 71 72, Troy Matteson 69 67 70 73, Peter Lonard (Aus) 66 71 73 69
281 Billy Mayfair 67 68 71 75
Cup glory for Roma
IMADA CLAIMS CLASSIC GLORY
Gunning for EURO glory
LAIRD’S GREENSBORO ROLLERCOASTER
