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Miami - American Martin Trainer fired a five-under par 67 in Sunday's final round to capture his first PGA Tour victory by winning the Puerto Rico Open.
In only his 12th PGA start, Trainer finished 72 holes at the Rio Grande resort on 15-under par 273 for a three-stroke triumph over Canada's Roger Sloan, Australian Aaron Baddeley and Americans Johnson Wagner and Daniel Berger.
"Disbelief - now that I've won it's just a total dream come true," Trainer said.
Trainer, ranked 286th in the world, struggled as a Monday qualifier and on developmental tours to play in events but earned a place on the PGA Tour this season and took his first title in a campaign where his main goal was only to keep his job.
"It has been an incredible journey," Trainer said.
"I could never have imagined this would have happened. It happened today.
"Along the way there were a lot of times I had to play under a lot of pressure to keep my card. That's as tough as playing down the stretch."
Trainer claims a berth in May's PGA Championship and a tour exemption through the 2020-21 campaign.
Trainer birdied three of the first five holes, took back-to-back bogeys at the par-3 sixth and par-4 seventh, then responded with back-to-back birdies at nine and 10 and closed calmly with birdies at the par-5 15th and 18th to secure the triumph.
"I was not composed. Inside it was utter turmoil," Trainer said.
"But I drew on my experience of winning on the Web.com Tour to try and stay calm.
"It all came together and I was able to keep it together."
Just two weeks ago, Trainer shared 28th at Pebble Beach for what had been his best career finish.
This was only his fifth PGA result after having missed six prior cuts.
American Shawn Stefani and South Africa's Charl Schwartzel shared sixth on 277.
Leading scores after Sunday's final round of the PGA Tour Puerto Rico Open at Rio Grande (USA unless noted, par-72):
273 - Martin Trainer 70-67-69-67
276 - Daniel Berger 70-71-69-66, Roger Sloan (CAN) 70-67-72-67, Johnson Wagner 69-69-69-69, Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 70-68-66-72
277 - Shawn Stefani 70-71-71-65, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 71-68-72-66
278 - Ben Crane 68-69-71-70, Nate Lashley 68-68-69-73
279 - Austin Truslow 70-71-72-66, Scott Brown 71-71-69-68, J.J. Henry 74-69-67-69, Roberto Diaz (MEX) 68-68-72-71, Wyndham Clark 70-68-69-72, Joey Garber 68-74-65-72
