American Brandt Snedeker became the first rookie to win on the PGA Tour this season when he compiled a brilliant final round to win the £2.5million Wachovia Championship by two strokes last night.

Snedeker, who started the day five strokes behind, gathered 10 birdies in a nine-under-par 63 at Forest Oaks. He took the outright lead for good with a 30-foot birdie at the par-three 17th and parred the last before enduring an anxious wait to find out if his score was good enough.

Tim Petrovic came to the par-four 18th trailing by one shot, but hooked his drive into rough and had no chance of reaching the green with his second shot, eventually making bogey.

Snedeker finished at 22-under 266, with Petrovic (67), Billy Mayfair (67) and Jeff Overton (70) equal second on 20-under. Overton took a three-shot lead into the final round, but was caught after just two holes, although he remained in contention until deep into the back nine.

Snedeker, 26, collects £450,000, jumping to ninth on the FedEx Cup points list going into next week's first event in the new play-off series.