Nick Watney recovered from a pair of early bogeys to claim victory in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, his first PGA Tour title.

An eagle at the fifth helped him to a three-under-par 69 and a three-shot victory over Ken Duke at TPC Louisiana.

The leader by two shots entering the final round, Watney lost the advantage after 10 holes before regrouping with birdies at 11 and 14 to win comfortably and give himself an early birthday present.

Watney, who turns 26 on Thursday, finished at 15-under 273, pocketing 1.098 million US dollars (£540,870) and a coveted two-year exemption. His previous best finish was a fifth-place tie last season at both the Reno-Tahoe Open and the FUNAI Classic.

Duke, who also was seeking his first tour title, carded four birdies over the first eight holes and grabbed a one-shot lead at 14-under when Watney bogeyed the 10th.

The 38-year-old Duke, whose best PGA finish is a ninth-place tie, could not register another birdie and fell off the pace with bogeys at the 14th and 18th.

Anthony Kim had the day's best round, a seven-under 65, and finished tied for third with John Mallinger at 11-under 277.

Second-round leader Mark Calcavecchia managed just a 71 and was another shot back at 278 with Bubba Watson and Chris Stroud.

Final totals (USA unless stated, par 72):

273 Nick Watney 69 67 68 69

276 Ken Duke 69 71 66 70

277 Anthony Kim 71 72 69 65, John Mallinger 69 70 71 67

278 Chris Stroud 68 70 71 69, Mark Calcavecchia 66 69 72 71, Bubba Watson 72 67 70 69

279 Bob Estes 69 71 70 69, Lucas Glover 67 69 74 69, Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 72 69 68

280 Steve Stricker 71 72 70 67, Jeff Maggert 72 69 68 71, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 72 70 71 67, Ryan Moore 70 72 70 68

281 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 70 68 75 68, Sean O'Hair 71 70 69 71, Harrison Frazar 71 69 71 70

282 Michael Sim (Aus) 71 69 70 72, Duffy Waldorf 68 71 71 72, John Merrick 69 70 72 71, Shaun Micheel 71 72 69 70, Woody Austin 70 73 70 69, Frank Lickliter II 72 70 69 71

283 Tim Petrovic 67 72 74 70, Kyle Reifers 64 73 71 75, Lee Janzen 69 74 73 67, Scott Gutschewski 70 70 67 76

284 Michael Putnam 73 69 71 71, Darron Stiles 68 74 71 71, Steve Elkington (Aus) 70 72 72 70, Will MacKenzie 72 69 70 73, Michael Allen 69 70 75 70, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 71 69 71 73, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 70 72 71 71, Bo Van Pelt 70 71 71 72, Jason Schultz 67 71 72 74, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 70 73 69 72

285 Jerry Smith 70 71 75 69, Ryan Palmer 70 69 71 75, John Huston 70 70 73 72, Craig Bowden 71 70 72 72, Douglas Labelle 69 73 73 70, Peter Lonard (Aus) 71 68 74 72

286 Tom Johnson 67 76 70 73, Jason Dufner 74 69 70 73, David Toms 69 71 74 72, Charlie Wi (Kor) 71 69 72 74, George McNeill 69 72 74 71, Jay Delsing 73 70 70 73, Ryan Armour 72 69 75 70, Carlos Franco (Par) 68 74 73 71, Wes Short jr. 69 69 71 77, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 72 71 70 73, Danny Ellis 69 72 72 73, Briny Baird 71 70 73 72

287 Nathan Green (Aus) 71 71 74 71, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 69 73 72 73, Paul Stankowski 69 69 71 78, Vance Veazey 71 72 75 69, Chris Smith 72 71 73 71, Matt Kuchar 72 69 71 75, Steve Allan (Aus) 72 71 72 72, Brian Bateman 70 73 67 77

288 Ted Purdy 69 71 72 76, Steve Wheatcroft 68 70 74 76

289 Kirk Triplett 72 71 74 72, Charley Hoffman 68 69 73 79, Mark Hensby (Aus) 72 69 72 76, Kenny Perry 70 73 72 74, John Cook 74 69 73 73, Dan Forsman 71 71 74 73, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 71 72 74 72, Craig Kanada 71 70 73 75

290 Kevin Stadler 71 71 72 76, Brian Gay 73 69 77 71, Troy Matteson 73 70 72 75, Rocco Mediate 71 70 73 76

291 Craig Lile (Rsa) 77 65 76 73, Martin Rominger (Swi) 73 68 76 74

292 Chris DiMarco 71 70 80 71, Joe Ogilvie 69 73 78 72, Chris Couch 72 71 75 74, Kevin Sutherland 68 73 76 75, Rich Barcelo 72 71 76 73

294 Tommy Armour III 70 73 71 80