Shane Lowry claims first PGA Tour win at Firestone

The Offaly man shot a sensational four under par final round of 66, an 8ft birdie on the last wrapping up a two stroke win on 11 under, with Bubba Watson back on nine under.

However, the former Irish Open champion – he was still an amateur when he won the title in 2009 – found a good lie in the rough and powered a wedge over the trees to 11 feet, from where he holed for a birdie to make certain of the first prize of $1,570,000.

Watson, who won the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai in November, closed to within a shot of the burly Irishman with his seventh birdie of the round at the 17th.

American Watson shot a 66 while Rose posted a 72 and was four shots adrift with Furyk in joint third.

“I managed to hole a few putts and get a bit of luck”.

“I was just trying to make two pars coming in after I saw Bubba make his birdie on 17”, Lowry said.

It was no more than he deserved: Lowry hadn’t dropped a shot all day – no mean feat in such a pressure cooker situation – while virtually all his rivals never really got anything going and that particularly applied to final pairing Furyk and Rose, the latter squandering a spattering of excellent birdie chances.

Shane Lowry, of Ireland, lines up his putt on the second hole, …

Lowry had a one-shot lead when Furyk made his second bogey on the front nine, but the 28-year-old Irishman appeared to be in trouble with a wild hook off the 10th tee. I thought he hit the ball pretty well.

Rose was plagued by a poor performance on the greens, three-putting the long second for par and, after getting back into contention by chipping in on the ninth, also three-putting the 10th from just 15 feet.

Jim Furyk hits from the rough on the third hole to the green during…

“A whole new world has opened up to Shane, I’m so happy for him”, said McGinley, who pointed out that the Fed Ex Cup and Ryder Cup were now on Lowry’s horizon.

“It will be cool to battle it out with him, hopefully for the number one spot if it comes down to Sunday”.

“I’m certainly ready to be in that position, and hopefully we will be”.