Australian John Senden held his nerve to win his maiden PGA Tour title at the John Deere Classic - and with it a chance to play in the Open championship.

Senden held off a determined challenge from American JP Hayes to card a final round of 68 for a 19-under-par total and one-shot victory.

Hayes' closing 65 gave him outright second on 18 under with Germany's Alex Cejka and American Heath Slocum tied for third two shots further back.

Senden held a four-shot lead going into the final round and got off to the perfect start with birdies at the first two holes, and then added another at the seventh.

However, a bogey on the ninth gave the chasing pack some hope and Hayes took advantage with birdies at the 11th and 14th before joining Senden at the top of the leaderboard with a four on the par-five 17th.

Senden followed suit after a 326-yard drive helped set up a two-putt birdie, and the Brisbane-born professional then saved par on the 18th from a greenside bunker to seal victory.

The leading player not already exempt for the Open secures the last available place for next week's Open at Hoylake - if they want it, of course.

Last year's winner Sean O'Hair had to enlist the help of the White House to get a passport to enable him to make the trip to St Andrews.

Senden, who won twice on the European Challenge Tour in 1998, admitted he was feeling the pressure as he stood over the crucial bunker shot on the 18th.

"The heart was going and I was thinking 'just lob it out and let it roll down there and leave a tap-in'," he said.

As for his maiden tour win and a place in the Open, he added: "I've been over here for five years and it's a great feeling.

"It was a tough day today, I got off to a good start and really battled through the whole day.

"I'm really excited (about the Open). I was there in 2002 (he missed the cut at Muirfield) and it's going to be another great experience."

Collated final round scores and totals in the USPGA Tour John Deere Classic, The TPC at Deere Run, Silvis, Illinois, United States

(USA unless stated, par 71):

265 John Senden (Aus) 64 69 64 68

266 J.P. Hayes 64 71 66 65

268 Heath Slocum 69 65 66 68, Alex Cejka (Ger) 69 68 64 67

269 B.J Staten 66 70 66 67, John Riegger 67 69 69 64

270 Patrick Sheehan 68 66 66 70, Kent Jones 71 65 68 66, Billy Mayfair 70 70 63 67

271 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 64 69 68 70, Jeff Overton 68 69 68 66, Joe Ogilvie 65 67 69 70, Bubba Dickerson 68 68 70 65, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 66 70 66 69, Todd Hamilton 68 69 67 67, Jason Gore 67 69 67 68

272 Bill Haas 70 66 69 67, Dan Forsman 68 67 68 69, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 68 67 68 69, Bubba Watson 67 70 68 67, Michael Connell 66 70 67 69, Steve Jones 67 68 66 71, Steve Elkington (Aus) 70 66 68 68

273 Kris Cox 65 68 70 70, John Huston 66 67 72 68, Jason Bohn 70 69 68 66

274 Matt Hansen 70 66 69 69, Ryan Palmer 67 68 70 69, Chris Smith 70 67 67 70, Garrett Willis 70 70 66 68, D.J. Trahan 69 67 67 71, Ryan Moore 68 66 69 71

275 Jeff Maggert 73 65 65 72, Zach Johnson 64 72 70 69, Paul Azinger 67 70 68 70, Cameron Beckman 69 71 68 67, Steve Flesch 68 70 66 71, Mark Brooks 70 68 66 71

276 Woody Austin 68 71 69 68, Dean Wilson 67 69 70 70, J.B. Holmes 75 65 65 71, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 67 69 70 70, Sean O'Hair 69 69 68 70, Craig Barlow 69 67 68 72, Jay Williamson 68 72 66 70, Donnie Hammond 68 70 70 68

277 Billy Hurley III 67 72 65 73, Nathan Green (Aus) 68 71 68 70, Justin Rose (Eng) 71 66 67 73, Camilo Villegas (Col) 69 70 69 69

278 Jerry Smith 69 69 69 71, Steve Stricker 68 70 68 72, Charley Hoffman 69 69 69 71, Omar Uresti 70 68 68 72, Jeff Sluman 72 65 69 72, Brian Bateman 71 67 70 70

279 Charles Warren 67 70 72 70, Paul Stankowski 72 67 70 70, Eric Axley 69 69 70 71, Kevin Sutherland 69 66 71 73

280 Brian Henninger 68 72 70 70, John Rollins 71 69 68 72, Chris Riley 68 70 69 73, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 71 67 70 72, Neal Lancaster 73 67 72 68, Jimmy Walker 69 70 68 73

281 Matt Gogel 67 71 68 75, Jason Day (Aus) 71 69 68 73

282 Kirk Triplett 69 69 69 75, David Branshaw 69 69 73 71, Robert Damron 72 66 71 73

283 David McKenzie (Aus) 66 74 73 70, Mike Small (Eng) 67 72 72 72, Jason Schultz 66 73 74 70

284 David Gossett 71 68 75 70, Scott Harrington 69 70 72 73, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 70 70 73 71, David Duval 68 70 70 76

286 Will MacKenzie 67 73 75 71

292 Brendan Jones (Aus) 68 72 76 76