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Kuala Lumpar - American Ben Crane held his nerve to win the PGA Tour's first event in Southeast Asia on Sunday, firing a closing 69 to hold off charging Englishman Brian Davis.
Crane sunk a pressure-packed birdie on the last hole to beat Davis by a stroke and pick up a R1m cheque at the CIMB Asia-Pacific Classic, a tournament co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour.
Scotland's Martin Laird, who was only beaten to the Shriners Hospital Open title last week when Jonathan Byrd fired a hole-in-one at the fourth playoff hole, kept his good form going to finish with a 66.
It left him in third place with world number eight Luke Donald of England.
A group of six players were two strokes further back, including South Africa's Ernie Els, Australia's Robert Allenby and Singapore's Mardan Mamat, the best-placed Asian Tour star.
The victory was Crane's second of the season, following his win at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
But he did it the hard way in Kuala Lumpur, almost throwing away the title with bogeys on the 12th, 13th and 14th before an eagle at the 15th put him back in contention.
"I just regrouped and kept to the process and didn't get ahead of myself. I knew I was still in the tournament. I hit an unbelievable shot on 16 with my driver and that kind of turned things around," he said.
"I didn't know where I stood but I heard someone in the crowd say 'play-off'. I thought I was probably tied going into the last hole and that was an unbelievable finish."
Crane added that he was proud to be the first champion of the new tournament, and to be able to win it in such dramatic fashion.
"I've never won a tournament where it's been hanging on a putt like that on the last hole," said the 34-year-old.
Davis stroked a five-under-par 66 for a total of 267 to keep the pressure on and was hoping to take the tournament to a play-off, but Crane's last-hole heroics denied the Englishman glory.
"I played good all week and kept myself in the hunt. Finished strong but it just quite wasn't good enough. I am quite disappointed," said Davis, who is still searching for a first PGA Tour victory.
"I missed a short putt on the par four 15th (for bogey) which was a big error there. But I managed to dig deep for birdie, eagle, birdie finish and thought it might be good enough to get me into a play-off.
"But congratulations to Ben. Hopefully I'll get my turn next time."
The ever-popular Els, who won last week in Bermuda, hit a final round five-under 66, with four closing birdies, for a four-day total of 270.
"Today I was really from tee to green, I was on fire. I don't think I missed a green all day," said the world number 11.
It was a sweet result for birthday boy Mardan, who picked up 237,500 dollars, the biggest payday of his career.
"It is a good birthday gift but I'm a bit disappointed with my putting. I couldn't hole any putts but I was solid from tee-to-green," said the 43-year-old Singaporean, winner of two Asian Tour titles.
The six-million-dollar event featured only the leading 25 golfers from the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup standings, along with the top 10 players from the Asian Tour and five sponsor exemptions.
Final round scores:
266 - Ben Crane (USA) 67-64-66-69
267 - Brian Davis (ENG) 65-70-66-66
268 - Martin Laird (SCO) 66-69-67-66, Luke Donald (ENG) 67-67-67-67
271 - Siddikur Rahman (BAN) 69-68-65-69, Ricky Barnes (USA) 63-69-69-70
270 - Robert Allenby (AUS) 72-66-68-64, Ernie Els (RSA) 67-68-69-66, Rickie Fowler (USA) 68-67-68-67, DJ Trahan (USA) 67-67-68-68, Ryan Moore (USA) 64-68-69-69, Mardan Mamat (SIN) 66-70-65-69
271 - Tom Gillis (USA) 69-66-69-67, Adam Scott (AUS) 69-65-69-68
272 - Kevin Streelman (USA) 69-66-67-70, Carl Pettersson (SWE) 65-68-66-73
273 - JB Holmes (USA) 73-67-66-67
274 - Charlie Wi (KOR) 65-70-70-69, Tim Clark (RSA) 67-69-69-69, KJ Choi (KOR) 70-69-66-69
275 - Retief Goosen (RSA) 69-69-71-66, Kevin Na (USA) 70-71-67-67, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 73-67-64-71
276 - Andrew Dodt (AUS) 68-75-66-67, Y.E. Yang (KOR) 72-69-66-69
277 - Bill Haas (USA) 72-69-69-67, Pariya Junhasavasdikul 66-65-71-75
278 - John Senden (AUS) 71-71-71-65, Marcus Fraser (AUS) 70-72-70-66, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 66-69-74-69, Michael Sim (AUS) 67-69-69-73
279 - Marc Leishman (AUS) 70-72-69-68, Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 71-66-72-70, Arjun Atwal (IND) 68-71-69-69, Ryan Palmer (USA) 72-70-65-72
280 - Tetsuji Hiratsuka (JPN) 71-70-69-70, Heath Slocum (USA) 68-69-71-72, Noh Seung-Yul (KOR) 71-69-65-75
283 - Lam Chih-Bing (SIN) 69-72-72-70
285 - Shaaban Hussin (MAS) 72-72-70-71
