Matt Kuchar (AP)

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American Kuchar posted his first win of 2010 in tremendous fashion. He hit a superb seven-iron approach shot on the only hole of the playoff as his ball caught the edge of the slope and curled around the green to just 76 centimetres (30 inches) from the cup.

He tapped in for birdie and finished with a five-under 66.

"The shot came out beautifully," said Kuchar who started the day five shots adrift of the lead. "I ran it up to that back right bank. I knew it was getting good. That was an exciting way to cap off this tournament."

Laird looked like he was headed to victory on the final hole of regulation but he three-putted from inside 25 feet to set up a playoff.

"Obviously, not the finish I was looking for," said Laird, who shot a 71.

"But I'm very proud of the way I played today (Sunday). I was kind of battling all day, and probably holed two or three of the biggest putts I've ever holed just to be where I was."

Kuchar posted his third PGA Tour victory in as many years getting to 12-under 272. He has placed in the top 10 nine times this season to get on the American Ryder Cup team but was still looking for a win.

"To win it's an incredible year," he said. "There's nothing like the feeling of winning a PGA Tour golf tournament.

"You feel like you're the best player in the world for this week. It's just an amazing feeling to think there's 125 of the best players in the world this week, and I came out first."

Kuchar earned $1.35m and leads all players in earnings for the first time in his career.

Kuchar moved to the top of the points standings by winning the first FedEx Cup playoff event. The FedEx playoff champion earns 10 million dollars in first place prize money.

Steve Stricker (66) and Kevin Streelman (68) tied for third place at 10-under 274.

South African Rory Sabbatini (64), Vaughn Taylor (69), Ryan Palmer (69) and Aussie Jason Day (71) shared fifth place at minus-nine.

Woods shot a final round a 67 Sunday to easily qualify for the second round of the playoffs next week.

"I haven't won all year," Woods said. "But this is a week that I was very close. I felt that if I would have putted better for all four days, I would have been right there. Looking forward to next week."

But Woods, who finalized his divorce from ex-wife Elin Nordegren earlier in the week, did enough to advance to next week's Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.

His performance on Sunday moved him into the top 100 in the playoff standings, the yardstick for advancing to Boston. He entered the Barclay event at No 112.

Leading fourth-round scores on Sunday from the $7.5 million The Barclays (USA unless noted, x won in a playoff):

272 - x-Matt Kuchar 68-69-69-66, Martin Laird (GBR) 69-67-65-71

274 - Kevin Streelman 72-63-71-68, Steve Stricker 70-70-68-66

275 - Jason Day (AUS) 67-67-70-71, Ryan Palmer 66-74-66-69, Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 68-74-69-64, Vaughn Taylor 65-70-71-69

276 - Dustin Johnson 71-69-64-72, Adam Scott (AUS) 66-71-68-71, Heath Slocum 67-71-70-68

277 - Paul Casey (GBR) 69-69-70-69, Ben Crane 67-70-73-67, Tiger Woods 65-73-72-67

Notable others:

278 - Angel Cabrera (ARG) 68-71-69-70, Luke Donald (GBR) 70-72-68-68, Ian Poulter (GBR) 70-72-66-70, Justin Rose (GBR) 72-69-65-72, John Senden (AUS) 67-69-70-72

279 - Retief Goosen (RSA) 70-70-69-70

280 - Ryuji Imada (JPN) 72-65-70-73, Charlie Wi (KOR) 69-70-69-72

281 - Greg Chalmers (AUS) 70-71-69-71

282 - Stephen Ames (CAN) 73-68-69-72, Marc Leishman (AUS) 70-70-71-71, Michael Sim (AUS) 69-70-71-72

283 - Robert Allenby (AUS) 73-67-74-69, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 69-68-71-75, Y.E. Yang (KOR) 73-67-74-69

284 - Stuart Appleby (AUS) 70-71-71-72, Andres Romero (ARG) 73-69-70-72

285 - Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 72-70-72-71, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 68-74-71-72

286 - Brian Davis (GBR) 72-70-75-69

287 - Camilo Villegas (COL) 67-74-71-75

289 - Ernie Els (RSA) 71-71-73-74