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Points wins at Pebble Beach

California - Comic actor Bill Murray of "Caddyshack" fame and US veteran pro D.A. Points won long-sought breakthrough titles at the PGA Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday.

Points eagled the par-5 14th to seize the lead for good and followed with a birdie at 15 on his way to a final-round five-under par 67 that gave him a two-stroke victory over Hunter Mahan for his first PGA title.

"Pebble Beach may be the most iconic place in America to play golf and to win here is just a dream come true," Points said.

Murray, a 60-year-old actor known to golf fans for his role as Carl Spackler in the 1980 golf comedy, tried to claim the crystal pro-am winner's trophy for years but was never better than fourth until Sunday's two-shot triumph.

"I feel better than all the others. Which is nice," Murray said. "I knew D.A. would win if I could go all week without asking him what DA stood for. And I did."

Darren Andrew Points credited Murray's antics, chatting about houses and ice cream flavors during the tense final round, with helping relax him and enable him to play his best.

"Without a doubt," Points said. "That kind of loosened me up."

Points had already putted out to assure himself and Murray the pro-am crown when Murray eyed his final putt on the 18th green and began an adapted version of his cinematic "Cinderella Story" rant from "Caddyshack."

Murray struck the putt, followed it to the hole and made sure the ball fell into the cup, screaming another famous Spackler line - "It's in the hole."

"I'm thinking about turning professional," Murray joked. "I probably won't because I have some other responsibilities."

Points, whose new responsibilities as a PGA champion include a Masters berth in April, emerged from a jam-packed leaderboard over the final holes.

As the top seven players began their back-nine battle within two strokes, only one of them had won a PGA event before, that being Mahan, whose three titles included the 2010 Phoenix Open and World Golf Bridgestone Invitational.

Steve Marino birdied the 13th to reach 13-under and seize a one-stroke lead over Mahan and Points.

But Points followed by holing out from the fairway from 99 yards out on the par-5 14th for an eagle that lifted the duo into the pro-am lead to stay and put Points atop the leaderboard for good at 14-under.

"I was trying to lay it up for a good full number, just trying to hit a litle gap wedge," Points said. "I hit it a little thin but it caught the rough and kept rolling until it rolled in. It was a one in a million."

After leaping into Points for a chest bump in celebration, Murray started chatting with Points about which nearby houses they would like to own, taking Points' mind off the tension of the situation.

Moments later, Mahan birdied in the par-3 17th to match Marino a stroke off the pace.

Points sank a long birdie putt at the 15th to reach 15-under, two clear of Marino and Mahan, while Mahan missed a curling 40-foot eagle putt on 18 then lipped out a birdie putt to finish on 13-under.

Points found dense rough off the 16th tee but scrambled in for a par. On the 17th hole, Murray asked Points which case of ice cream he wanted for a snack.

After finishing, Points had to wait for Marino's approach at 18 to be certain of victory. Marino's third shot went into the Pacific Ocean and he slid into a share of third with Spencer Levin on 276, each one back of Tom Gillis.

Australian Aaron Baddeley was the top non-US finisher, sharing seventh on 277 with Americans Nick Watney and Bryce Molder.

Scores on Sunday after the final round of the $6.3m US PGA Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (USA unless noted, final round at par-72 Pebble Beach):

271 - DA Points 63-70-71-67

273 - Hunter Mahan 70-67-70-66

275 - Tom Gillis 67-68-70-70

276 - Spencer Levin 71-68-67-70, Steve Marino 65-66-71-74

277 - Nick Watney 68-67-75-67, Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 68-71-67-71

Bryce Molder 69-66-68

278 - Steven Bowditch (AUS) 71-69-69-69, Phil Mickelson 71-67-69-71, Zack Miller 72-69-66-71, Jimmy Walker 72-68-63-75

279 - James Driscoll 72-67-70-70, JB Holmes 71-64-73-71

...

280 - Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 68-70-72-70, Stuart Appleby (AUS) 70-66-72-72, Matt Jones (AUS) 70-69-68-73

281 - Marc Leishman (AUS) 74-69-66-72, Alex Cejka (GER) 64-74-67-76, Bio Kim (KOR) 74-68-70-69

282 - Vijay Singh (FIJ) 69-68-73-72

284 - KJ Choi (KOR) 71-71-69-73, Richard S. Johnson (SWE) 71-71-69-73, Nick O'Hern (AUS) 74-70-68-72

287 - Charlie Wi (KOR) 70-66-76-75, Jesper Parnevik (SWE) 69-73-70-75

288 - Padraig Harrington (IRL) 69-68-73-78, Sung-hoon Kang (KOR) 69-71-72-76

289 - Andres Romero (ARG) 68-74-70-77

290 - Trevor Immelman (RSA) 70-68-72-80

WD - Robert Garrigus 70-70-67, Arjun Atwal (IND) 75-66-70

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