Three months after being burgled, Joe Durant stole a victory at the Funai Classic at Walt Disney World.

Durant hardly hit a bad shot, carding a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 to break out of the pack and secure a four-shot victory over third-round leader Troy Matteson (70) and fast-finishing Frank Lickliter (62) on the Magnolia course while Justin Rose failed to relaunch his challenge, finishing fourth.

Durant finished at 25-under 263 for the fourth victory of his PGA Tour career, snapping a 151-event drought stretching back to early 2001, when he won back-to-back tournaments.

"I felt if I could play the way I did on Saturday I would have a very good chance and that's what happened," said Durant, 42.

The self-taught Durant is perennially one of the best drivers on tour. Mediocre putting has prevented him from having the sort of career he perhaps should have, but the Florida native felt at home on the grainy Bermuda greens.

Starting the final round one stroke behind Matteson, he kept pace with the leaders with three front nine birdies, taking the lead for good with a birdie at the par-five 10th to go 22-under.

With nobody else able to mount a serious challenge, Durant was under little pressure, but he added further birdies at the 13th, 14th and 16th holes for good measure to win in style.

Durant claimed the key to his victory was a 10-foot par save on the second hole.

"Once I made that I settled down, but I didn't relax until I birdied the 16th," he said.

"This is one of the biggest tournaments for me to win, because it's such a family event and my family has been the backbone of my career. We always dreamed about standing on the 18th (green for the victory presentation) with Mickey."

Durant's wife and two children even came out to watch him finish on Sunday, after spending the rest of the week visiting Disney's various attractions.

Durant revealed that the low point of his year occurred in July in Milwaukee, where his hotel room was burgled while he was playing the first round.

He lost a computer, passport and several personal music players, among other things, none of which was recovered.

"I was so depressed," he said. "I played terribly that day but I went back out Friday and shot (67) and made the cut. For me, that was like winning the US Open, because I felt I had hit rock bottom and things were going to turn around."

Runner-up Matteson paid tribute to Durant's performance.

"He was machine-like," Matteson said.

"He didn't make any mistakes. He's known for being a ball-striker and he definitely displayed it. He put the total package together."

Lickliter started the day eight shots back and posted a number before the leaders even reached the turn. For a while it seemed he might have a chance of winning, but that was before Durant cranked it up.

"I never felt I was in the thick of it," he said, nonetheless delighted with his round. "I hit the ball where I was looking and that's always a good thing."

Rose, who shot a 60 in the first round, made a costly bogey at the final hole to fall out of second place, lipping-out a 15-foot putt to finish fourth on 20-under 268.

Davis Love fared even worse, double-bogeying the last to tie for fifth, another shot back.

Love was seeking his second successive victory, after winning at Greensboro two weeks ago, but he hit several timid putts down the stretch.

Collated final round scores and totals:

263 Joe Durant 69 65 64 65

267 Troy Matteson 67 65 65 70, Frank Lickliter II 68 70 67 62

268 Justin Rose (Eng) 60 67 72 69

269 Nick Watney 69 68 64 68, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 69 68 64, Marco Dawson 67 66 69 67, Davis Love III 67 69 64 69

270 Jerry Kelly 66 68 68 68, Mark Calcavecchia 66 73 63 68, Heath Slocum 68 67 66 69, Charles Howell III 65 70 65 70, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 68 69 68 65

271 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 66 69 70 66, Robert Damron 68 65 70 68, Woody Austin 68 66 67 70

272 Charles Warren 66 70 67 69, John Rollins 73 64 66 69, Steve Lowery 69 70 66 67, Harrison Frazar 69 67 68 68

273 J J Henry 65 70 70 68, J.B. Holmes 68 70 68 67, KJ Choi (Kor) 68 68 67 70, Jonathan Byrd 68 69 65 71, Greg Owen (Eng) 67 68 68 70

274 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 64 70 68 72, Michael Allen 68 69 66 71, Ian Leggatt (Can) 66 70 68 70, Chris Couch 70 65 71 68

275 Sean O'Hair 69 67 67 72, Bill Haas 66 69 70 70, Mike Weir (Can) 70 66 67 72, John Senden (Aus) 68 67 69 71, Bob Tway 65 71 69 70, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 67 70 69 69

276 Brian Davis (Eng) 69 68 71 68, Hunter Mahan 69 67 72 68, Brett Quigley 70 68 68 70, Ryan Palmer 67 71 66 72, Tim Petrovic 70 69 70 67, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 70 67 69 70, Scott Verplank 67 70 67 72

277 Vaughn Taylor 72 67 66 72, Chris DiMarco 67 69 68 73, Tag Ridings 65 66 73 73, Bubba Watson 69 68 68 72, Jerry Smith 71 68 68 70, Azuma Yano (Jpn) 68 67 70 72, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 68 69 70, Brett Wetterich 69 69 65 74

278 Nathan Green (Aus) 72 67 70 69, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 70 69 64 75, Eric Axley 66 72 70 70, Lucas Glover 66 70 73 69

279 Steve Flesch 65 72 71 71, Greg Kraft 70 67 67 75

280 D.A. Points 67 71 71 71, Bart Bryant 72 66 70 72, Brandt Jobe 72 65 70 73, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 69 67 73 71, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 67 69 70 74

281 Robert Gamez 68 69 70 74, Ben Crane 68 67 70 76, Chris Riley 66 73 72 70, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 69 69 74 69, Mike Small (Eng) 70 69 69 73, Lee Janzen 68 69 69 75

282 Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 69 69 71 73, Nicholas Thompson 71 68 75 68

283 Shaun Micheel 67 71 72 73

284 Craig Barlow 68 70 75 71, Bubba Dickerson 66 68 72 78

286 Rocco Mediate 69 70 72 75

288 Ronald Whittaker 68 71 72 77