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Puerto Rico - PGA Tour rookie Chesson Hadley survived a late charge from Danny Lee to win the $3.5 million Puerto Rico Open by two strokes on Sunday.
Hadley said he was "sick and tired of playing like an idiot" when he arrived in the Caribbean, so he did something about it, leading throughout the final round on the Trump International course in Rio Grande.
The American shot five-under-par 67 in his final round on Sunday but it was far from a cakewalk to victory as New Zealander Lee birdied the 13th, 15th and 16th holes to close the margin to one stroke with two holes left.
Hadley, however, responded in style with birdies at the final two holes to finish at 21-under 267 for his first tour victory at the age of 26.
Lee (68) birdied the last to finish second on 19-under, with American Ben Martin (66) third on 17-under.
Hadley, who came into the event ranked 92nd in the world, collected $630 000 and a two-year exemption on tour.
He was extremely nervous before the final round and had trouble eating, but a prayer session proved calming, as did an unlikely chip-in birdie at the fifth hole.
"That shot won me the tournament," the North Carolinian told reporters. "I was dead over there and I hit the nastiest little nipper and it snuck in the left door."
Hadley had a poor final round at the Honda Classic last week, after which he admonished himself.
"I went back to my hotel room and just let it all out," he said.
"From there on I just figured it out and golf's fine now. That just shows how quickly it can change."
Runner-up Lee took plenty of positives from his best result on the tour.
"I gave it my best but Chesson was just playing rock solid," said Lee, who in 2008 at the age of 18 became the youngest player to win the US Amateur Championship.
"He made a couple of good up-and-downs and when he plays like that it's just really hard to catch."
The Puerto Rico Open was contested by players who did not qualify for the WGC-Cadillac Championship.
FINAL SCORES
267 Chesson Hadley (U.S.) 68 65 67 67
269 Danny Lee (New Zealand) 67 68 66 68
271 Ben Martin (U.S.) 68 67 70 66
272 Wes Roach (U.S.) 69 66 70 67, David Toms (U.S.) 72 64 67 69, Richard Lee (U.S.) 69 68 68 67, Jason Gore (U.S.) 67 69 66 70, Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 71 66 66 69
273 Ricky Barnes (U.S.) 68 68 69 68, Jerry Kelly (U.S.) 69 67 67 70, Chris Stroud (U.S.) 73 67 68 65
274 Andrew Loupe (U.S.) 70 70 65 69, Jonathan Byrd (U.S.) 69 66 67 72
276 Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 71 67 69 69, Tim Petrovic (U.S.) 68 72 66 70, James Driscoll (U.S.) 69 63 75 69, Peter Malnati (U.S.) 73 68 69 66, Robert Streb (U.S.) 69 72 66 69
277 Martin Flores (U.S.) 72 69 69 67, Scott Langley (U.S.) 72 70 70 65, Ryo Ishikawa (Japan) 70 69 69 69, Brooks Koepka (U.S.) 72 68 69 68, George McNeill (U.S.) 69 67 68 73
278 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 69 67 68 74, David Hearn (Canada) 70 68 69 71, Greg Owen (Britain) 69 67 71 71, Andrew Svoboda (U.S.) 74 66 68 70, Eric Axley (U.S.) 68 66 72 72
279 Rafael Campos (Puerto Rico) 74 69 67 69, Emiliano Grillo (Argentina) 71 71 71 66, David Skinns (Britain) 74 66 71 68, Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) 70 69 73 67, Brad Fritsch (Canada) 71 68 67 73, William McGirt (U.S.) 68 71 69 71, Bud Cauley (U.S.) 69 67 72 71, Ted Potter Jr. (U.S.) 71 70 65 73
280 Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 74 66 70 70 , Cameron Beckman (U.S.) 69 71 71 69, Steven Bowditch (Australia) 69 70 67 74, Tyrone Van Aswegen (South Africa) 69 68 72 71, Yang Yong-Eun (South Korea) 68 70 71 71, Noh Seung-Yul (South Korea) 72 70 71 67
281 Will Wilcox (U.S.) 71 71 69 70, Hudson Swafford (U.S.) 72 68 69 72, Ryan Sullivan (U.S.) 69 70 68 74, Lee Williams (U.S.) 71 70 68 72, Ryuji Imada (Japan) 73 67 68 73, Brian Stuard (U.S.) 66 71 73 71
282 Kevin Kisner (U.S.) 71 69 69 73, Jim Herman (U.S.) 69 70 68 75, Brady Watt (Australia) 71 69 72 70, Sean O'Hair (U.S.) 75 67 70 70, John Daly (U.S.) 74 69 67 72
283 Joe Ogilvie (U.S.) 74 67 72 70, Michael Thompson (U.S.) 71 69 68 75, Alex Cejka (Germany) 69 73 68 73, Stephen Ames (Canada) 70 72 71 70
284 Harrison Frazar (U.S.) 72 71 71 70, Jamie Lovemark (U.S.) 73 65 71 75, Edward Loar (U.S.) 69 70 72 73, John Rollins (U.S.) 69 69 71 75, Daniel Chopra (Sweden) 74 66 74 70, Bronson La'Cassie (Australia) 71 70 72 71
285 Scott Brown (U.S.) 70 73 70 72
286 Fred Funk (U.S.) 71 72 71 72, Marco Dawson (U.S.) 70 73 71 72, Vaughn Taylor (U.S.) 72 71 71 72, Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 69 73 71 73
287 Jhonattan Vegas (Venezuela) 74 68 71 74
288 Matt Bettencourt (U.S.) 71 71 71 75
289 Max Homa (U.S.) 73 70 71 75
215 Paul Stankowski (U.S.) 73 70 72, Tag Ridings (U.S.) 70 72 73, Chris Smith (U.S.) 69 74 72, Rod Pampling (Australia) 70 71 74, Brice Garnett (U.S.) 70 72 73
216 Jose Coceres (Argentina) 73 70 73
217 Lee Janzen (U.S.) 73 70 74, Tim Clark (South Africa) 72 70 75 , Chris DiMarco (U.S.) 75 68 74
