Stephen Ames' circuitous trip to his first PGA Tour victory ended outside Chicago.

Ames captured the Western Open by two strokes, shooting a steady one-under-par 70 at the Cog Hill Golf and Country Club.

A native of Trinidad & Tobago who resides in Calgary, Ames broke through in his 166th PGA Tour start. At 10-under 274, he outdistanced Steve Lowery, who also closed with a 70.

Ames made good on a promise to his two sons that he would end the drought this week.

"It is very nice to win this tournament with all its history," he said.

"I know many of golf's great champions are on this trophy and it's nice to put my name alongside them."

Australia's Mark Hensby and Britain's Luke Donald, a local favourite who attended Northwestern, tied for third at seven-under 277.

"I am very comfortable playing here and it is like a home week for me," said Donald, whose 67 matched the best round of the day.

But the afternoon belonged to Ames, who had eight top-10 finishes and nearly £1.1million in earnings this year but never doubted his ability to win on golf's elite tour.

"Yes, I never thought that way at all, I just love this game too much," he said.

If there is a positive for Lowery, it's the fact his second-place finish will send him to the British Open.

"I will probably withdraw from a couple of tournaments here and go play the British Open."

Collated final round scores in the Western Open, Cog Hill G & CC, Lemont, Illinois, United States of America

(USA unless stated, par 71):

274 Stephen Ames (Can) 67 73 64 70

276 Steve Lowery 68 68 70 70

277 Mark Hensby (Aus) 67 70 67 73, Luke Donald (Eng) 72 68 70 67

278 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 68 69 68 73, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 68 67 72

279 Jim Furyk 69 71 68 71, Davis Love III 70 74 67 68, Tiger Woods 70 73 65 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 70 69 69

280 Scott Verplank 72 71 67 70, Scott Hoch 69 69 73 69, Robert Allenby (Aus) 65 73 71 71, Pat Perez 69 73 71 67, Loren Roberts 64 75 73 68, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 70 72 67 71

281 John Rollins 71 69 69 72, Robert Gamez 67 71 72 71, Matt Gogel 72 64 74 71, Charles Howell III 69 67 74 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 74 69 70 68, Vijay Singh (Fij) 72 71 68 70

282 J J Henry 69 73 68 72

283 Billy Mayfair 69 74 69 71, DJ Brigman 68 70 75 70, Peter Lonard (Aus) 72 70 70 71

284 Bob Burns 74 68 72 70, David Branshaw 68 74 72 70, Jonathan Byrd 67 72 71 74, Mike Small (Eng) 69 70 69 76, Michael Allen (Irl) 68 72 72 72, Bart Bryant 71 71 71 71

285 Tom Carter 71 72 71 71, Jason Bohn 71 73 71 70, Jerry Kelly 72 72 72 69, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 71 73 71, Steve Stricker 69 75 71 70, Jose Coceres (Arg) 72 69 74 70, Kevin Na (Kor) 70 69 75 71

286 David Frost (Rsa) 75 68 71 72, Rich Beem 69 73 71 73, Steve Pate 73 70 67 76, Briny Baird 70 73 70 73, Mark Wilson 72 71 71 72, KJ Choi (Kor) 68 71 74 73, Brett Quigley 73 71 71 71

287 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 76 66 70 75, Skip Kendall 68 75 71 73, Scott McCarron 71 72 74 70, Jeff Sluman 72 70 71 74

288 Jay Williamson 69 73 74 72, Chris Smith 68 72 70 78, Patrick Sheehan 73 70 69 76, Jason Dufner 71 72 75 70, Chad Campbell 67 76 73 72, Scott Simpson 68 71 73 76, Steve Elkington (Aus) 72 72 72 72

289 Pat Bates 72 70 77 70, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 75 69 73 72, Steve Allan (Aus) 72 69 72 76, Todd Fischer 70 74 72 73, Brad Lardon 76 68 71 74

290 Vaughn Taylor 71 69 72 78, Len Mattiace 74 70 72 74, Hank Kuehne 70 73 76 71, Brian Bateman 74 67 74 75, Joey Sindelar 72 70 77 71, Dan Forsman 68 72 72 78, Gene Sauers 73 68 75 74, Robert Damron 70 74 73 73

291 Brent Geiberger 72 70 74 75, Craig Bowden 69 72 73 77, Glen Day 74 69 73 75, Lucas Glover 75 68 79 69, Kevin Sutherland 68 73 71 79, Tommy Armour III 72 72 73 74

292 Heath Slocum 71 68 75 78

293 J.P. Hayes 74 68 74 77

294 J.L. Lewis 67 74 78 75, Joel Edwards 74 70 76 74

295 Trevor Dodds (Nam) 73 71 75 76, Ryan Palmer 74 69 76 76