Australian Aaron Baddeley admitted his previous solitary experience of winning on the PGA Tour helped him secure his second victory at the £3million FBR Open at the TPC of Scottsdale in Arizona.
The 25-year-old shot a final-round 64 to finish 21 under par and one stroke ahead of John Rollins.
Baddeley, a resident of Scottsdale, won the Verizon Heritage last year and drew on those memories when things got tense.
"I was definitely more nervous at Hilton Head," Baddeley said.
"I was more comfortable today and comfortable with my swing with all the hard work I have been doing."
Jeff Quinney, the long-time leader, finished two shots back in third and Baddeley admitted he was not sure he would be able to win with his rival holding a two-stroke lead over him at the start of play.
"I thought I would have to shoot a low one to win," Baddeley said. "I knew I was going to have to make birdies because Jeff was playing so well."
Most final-round fireworks usually begin on the back nine but the golfers on the first page of the leaderboard were firing at the pins from the first hole.
Bart Bryant, who finished fourth on 18 under, made birdie on his first hole and eagle on the third. Rollins started by making birdie on his first three holes. Baddeley made an eagle on the third hole to be two-under through three holes while Quinney made three birdies in his first five holes.
"Obviously it didn't end the way I wanted to, but all in all I'm pretty happy with the performance," Quinney said.
"I was sleeping on the lead the last couple of days and it was a lot of pressure and I'm happy how I handled the whole situation."
Quinney's lead was cut to one when he bogeyed the 10th and Baddeley made birdie and he briefly took a share of the lead with a nine-foot birdie putt at the 13th before Quinney also picked up a shot there.
Despite restoring his two-stroke advantage Quinney threw it away on the short par-four 17th when he drove into the water and made bogey on a hole where Baddeley had earlier made birdie - his third in a row - from 10 feet.
Another bogey five at the last ended Quinney's chances and let in Rollins to snatch second place.
England's Justin Rose and Brian Davis struggled in the final round. Rose shot even par and finished tied for 39th at seven under while Davis closed a one-over 72 for a tournament total of six under, tied for 44th.
Collated final round scores and totals in the USPGA Tour FBR Open, The TPC at Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
(USA unless stated, par 71):
263 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 65 70 64 64
264 John Rollins 65 68 68 63
265 Jeff Quinney 66 63 68 68
266 Bart Bryant 66 66 68 66
267 Billy Mayfair 66 66 70 65
268 Heath Slocum 67 68 67 66
269 Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 67 67 64
270 Dean Wilson 70 69 65 66, David Toms 65 69 68 68, Bubba Watson 66 67 69 68
271 Vaughn Taylor 67 67 67 70, Robert Garrigus 66 67 68 70, Jason Bohn 70 66 67 68
272 Brett Quigley 67 67 66 72, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 68 67 68 69, Troy Matteson 71 68 64 69, Peter Lonard (Aus) 69 68 66 69
273 Charles Warren 71 68 66 68, Fred Funk 70 69 67 67
274 Dudley Hart 64 71 69 70, Lucas Glover 71 67 67 69, Cliff Kresge 70 68 68 68
275 John Merrick 71 68 69 67, Brian Gay 65 71 70 69, Ted Purdy 69 70 67 69, Parker McLachlin 70 70 70 65, Tom Pernice Jnr. 65 71 68 71, Charles Howell III 67 66 72 70, Tim Petrovic 67 71 69 68, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 68 68 70 69, Brandt Snedeker 71 68 68 68
276 Nick Watney 68 68 71 69, Kenny Perry 69 67 68 72, Charlie Wi (Kor) 68 70 67 71, Mike Weir (Can) 70 69 70 67, Joe Ogilvie 68 67 71 70, Woody Austin 69 67 69 71, Briny Baird 69 67 73 67
277 Will MacKenzie 70 68 70 69, George McNeill 67 68 70 72, Justin Rose (Eng) 70 70 66 71, Bo Van Pelt 69 71 68 69, Lee Janzen 72 67 69 69
278 Steve Stricker 68 68 69 73, Brian Davis (Eng) 70 69 67 72, Paul Azinger 65 71 73 69, Davis Love III 71 69 73 65, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 71 68 70 69, Steve Elkington (Aus) 69 69 67 73, Hunter Mahan 71 68 72 67, Bob Estes 71 69 66 72, Craig Bowden 69 68 72 69, Brett Wetterich 70 70 69 69
279 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 69 71 70 69, Nathan Green (Aus) 70 70 70 69, Eric Axley 69 71 73 66, Steve Flesch 68 69 73 69, Boo Weekley 71 69 70 69
280 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 71 69 68 72, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 71 75 66, Chris DiMarco 68 68 71 73
281 Jason Dufner 69 71 68 73, Jeff Gove 68 72 68 73, Ben Curtis 67 72 69 73, Steve Wheatcroft 70 70 70 71
282 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 66 71 74 71
283 Kevin Na (Kor) 72 68 71 72, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 70 71 72
284 Kent Jones 70 69 72 73, Stewart Cink 70 70 72 72
286 J.P. Hayes 69 69 72 76, Tripp Isenhour 71 69 73 73
287 Mark Hensby (Aus) 69 68 76 74