American Brian Bateman posted his first victory on the PGA Tour in dramatic fashion, rolling in 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to capture the Buick Open.

The clutch putt snapped a four-way tie for the lead as the Californian notched his first victory in 159 career starts on tour.

"When the putt went in I was thrilled to death," Bateman said.

"It seemed like it took forever to get to the hole, but it went right in the middle.

I just went blank. I just threw my hands up and said, 'Man, I finally did it'."

Bateman carded a final-round 69 to finish at 15-under 273. He edged Jason Gore, Justin Leonard and Woody Austin, who appeared braced for a playoff until Bateman's winning putt.

"It's a life-changing week," Bateman said. "Life-changing putt, but like I told someone outside, my wife and I are pretty simple people and I doubt this is going to change us much."

The 34-year-old journeyman's previous best finishes on tour were a pair of ties for third place.

Bateman has been dreadful this year, missing the cut in four of eight tournaments. His best finish was a tie for 31st at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in February.

"I'm still trying to figure out what I did," Bateman said.

"I felt good all week. I felt like I was giving myself a lot of chances at birdies. I was patient just about every day and it just seemed to build."

Gore and Leonard each signed for a five-under-par 67 at Warwick Hills Golf Club. Austin carded a three-under 69 to grab a share of the clubhouse lead.

"I thought I had to shoot seven or eight under today to have a shot," Gore said.

"It was blustery today.

We had some different wind. The greens got really hard and it made it very difficult because by late in the day, there are heel prints.

"It was a great tournament. You had 10 guys who could win at any point. It was who stepped up and pulled the trophy away, and Brian did it. Take your hats off to him."

Leonard carded seven birdies and two bogeys in posting his best finish of the year.

The 1997 Open champion, he had missed the cut in nine of 16 events this year, including the first six.

"It feels very good.

It's amazing, because it's been so long, but it's still a very familiar feeling," Leonard said. "I feel fortunate that it is, that I don't have to get in there a few times to really get comfortable. I was nervous today, but somewhat comfortable, and I think I was able to use some of that energy to my advantage."

Tom Pernice entered the day with a one-shot lead but stumbled to a three-over 75 to finish four shots back at 276.

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

273 Brian Bateman 65 70 69 69

274 Justin Leonard 69 72 66 67, Woody Austin 65 71 69 69, Jason Gore 71 66 70

67

275 John Rollins 70 71 67 67, Jim Furyk 66 68 71 70, Marco Dawson 68 71 68 68,

Scott Verplank 66 69 69 71, Steve Elkington (Aus) 66 70 71 68

276 Kenny Perry 71 63 71 71, Stephen Marino 69 70 68 69, Fredrik Jacobson

(Swe) 68 70 67 71, Lucas Glover 68 68 70 70, Gavin Coles (Aus) 68 70 68 70,

Brandt Snedeker 71 69 66 70

277 John Daly 69 70 69 69, Charlie Wi (Kor) 68 70 70 69, Briny Baird 70 69 71

67, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 72 68 64 73

278 Brian Davis (Eng) 70 69 70 69, Michael Putnam 70 67 69 72, Jay Williamson

71 67 71 69, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 69 69 69 71, Tom Lehman 71 70 68 69, Tom

Pernice Jnr. 70 67 66 75, Fred Funk 70 70 68 70

279 Kevin Stadler 71 68 68 72, Bob Estes 69 70 70 70, Michael Boyd 70 68 71

70, Sean O'Hair 71 70 68 70, Bubba Dickerson 68 69 69 73, Craig Kanada 67 70 74

68, Bob Tway 70 71 72 66

280 Kent Jones 71 69 70 70, Robert Gamez 70 68 73 69, Jeff Sluman 70 71 71 68,

Mark Hensby (Aus) 67 70 71 72, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 71 70 68 71, Kevin Na

(Kor) 70 71 67 72, Ken Duke 71 68 71 70, Tripp Isenhour 69 70 66 75, Glen Day 71

70 70 69

281 Brett Quigley 65 69 75 72, Joe Ogilvie 69 72 67 73, DJ Brigman 70 70 70

71, Tag Ridings 71 70 71 69, Dicky Pride 70 69 69 73, Alex Cejka (Ger) 68 70 72

71

282 Billy Andrade 68 69 73 72, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 70 68 72 72, Darren Clarke

(NIrl) 73 68 70 71

283 Andrew Ruthkoski 69 70 73 71, Joey Sindelar 69 68 70 76, Steve Flesch 70

70 71 72, Jeff Brehaut 72 65 70 76, Brent Geiberger 70 71 71 71, Greg Owen (Eng)

70 70 72 71, Scott Gutschewski 71 70 71 71, Tom Gillis 71 70 69 73, Rich Barcelo

72 65 75 71, Lee Williams 69 72 71 71

284 Corey Pavin 68 73 69 74, Rocco Mediate 64 71 76 73

285 Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 70 72 74, Brian Gay 69 72 72 72, Jeff Quinney 67

72 75 71, Craig Bowden 69 72 70 74, Johnson Wagner 71 68 72 74, Paul Sheehan

(Aus) 72 68 73 72

286 Arjun Atwal (Ind) 70 71 73 72, Chris DiMarco 72 67 73 74

287 Cameron Beckman 66 73 75 73

288 Michael Sim (Aus) 72 68 75 73, Jeff Gove 71 68 76 73, Steve Lowery 70 70

75 73

292 Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 69 71 74 78

293 Robert Garrigus 68 73 75 77