After barely squeaking past the cut, Kirk Triplett went on a birdie binge to win his first PGA Tour event in three years.

Triplett fired a closing nine-under-par 63 to post a one-shot victory at the Chrysler Classic.

Triplett opened the event with rounds of 68 and 71 to make the cut by a shot at five under. He finished by playing the weekend at 17 under for his third career title.

Triplett earned £310,000 and an invitation to next year's exclusive Mercedes Championships by finishing at 22-under 266.

After carding a 64 in the third round, Triplett came out firing in the fourth, with birdies on five straight holes to start the round.

He gave a shot back on the seventh but rebounded with a birdie on eight. After five straight pars, Triplett caught fire again with four consecutive birdies starting at the 14th to post a one-shot victory over Jerry Kelly.

Kelly signed for a 65 to finish alone in second at 21 under. His bogey-free round included seven birdies, the last coming at the par-four 16th.

Duffy Waldorf entered the final round with a two-shot lead but settled for a 72 to finish tied for third with 2004 winner Heath Slocum (68) and Bubba Watson (70) at 19 under.

Collated final-round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 72):

266 Kirk Triplett 68 71 64 63

267 Jerry Kelly 66 68 68 65

269 Heath Slocum 67 69 65 68, Bubba Watson 67 67 65 70, Duffy Waldorf 66 66 65 72

270 David Branshaw 71 65 66 68

271 Doug Barron 66 70 67 68, Jason Gore 68 66 69 68

272 Gabriel Hjertstedt (Swe) 66 71 65 70, Charley Hoffman 69 68 69 66, Bo Van Pelt 71 69 65 67, Mark Wilson 64 69 67 72, Cameron Beckman 72 64 70 66

273 Ted Purdy 71 68 65 69, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 70 68 69 66, Bob Tway 68 66 73 66, Jason Allred 67 68 68 70

274 Bob Estes 67 70 68 69, Justin Rose (Eng) 70 68 72 64, John Cook 68 69 65 72, Brendan Jones (Aus) 68 70 69 67, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 69 69 70 66, Bubba Dickerson 68 68 69 69

275 Brian Henninger 68 67 72 68, Mike Sposa 68 69 70 68, Carlos Franco (Par) 67 69 73 66, Eric Axley 70 68 65 72, Vance Veazey 69 70 68 68, Brett Wetterich 68 69 69 69

276 Brian Gay 70 68 72 66, Don Yrene 69 70 67 70, Kris Cox 69 67 72 68, Steve Stricker 69 69 69 69, Paul Goydos 68 70 69 69, Bob May 71 69 71 65, David Edwards 69 68 68 71, Marco Dawson 70 67 67 72, Briny Baird 69 70 67 70, Steve Jones 69 70 69 68, Danny Ellis 68 69 68 71

277 Jeff Gove 70 70 69 68, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 68 71 68 70, Camilo Villegas (Col) 70 68 67 72, Hunter Mahan 71 68 68 70, Chris Riley 68 68 67 74, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 68 70 69 70, Scott Gutschewski 67 67 71 72, Jeff Sluman 70 68 68 71

278 Nathan Green (Aus) 67 70 66 75, Gavin Coles (Aus) 67 70 72 69

279 Kevin Sutherland 70 70 69 70, Ricky Barnes 67 72 72 68, John Rollins 68 70 71 70, Billy Mayfair 68 70 72 69, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 71 69 70 69, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 68 69 74 68, Jeff Brehaut 71 67 71 70, Mark Brooks 71 64 68 76, Todd Fischer 71 67 68 73

280 Jeff Overton 71 67 69 73, Tom Byrum 71 69 73 67, Jin Park (Kor) 68 69 75 68, Tag Ridings 69 69 71 71, Bill Haas 68 72 70 70, Michael Allen 69 68 69 74

282 Jonathan Kaye 70 69 71 72, Alex Cejka (Ger) 67 68 76 71

283 Matt Hansen 67 70 74 72

284 David Berganio Jnr. 72 68 74 70

285 Ian Leggatt (Can) 70 66 74 75

286 Wes Short jr. 73 67 72 74, John Engler Jr 69 70 76 71