PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) -- No one can ever say Carl Pettersson stumbled into his first PGA Tour victory.
First came an incredible chip from a buried lie in the rough on the 15th hole that allowed him to save par and keep the lead. Then he faced a daunting tee shot on No. 16, the hardest hole at Innisbrook with mangled rough on the left and water on the right. That's when Pettersson found out he was capable of winning the Chrysler Championship.
"I said, 'Just step up and make a good swing. If it goes in the rough, it goes in the rough. If it goes in the water, it goes in the water. Buck up and hit a good one,''' he said. "I managed to do it somehow.''
The shot was perfect, and he had no trouble the rest of the way until nerves set in as he two-putted from 20 feet for par on the last hole, knocking the first one three feet by.
Pettersson closed with an even-par 71 for a one-shot victory over hard-charging Chad Campbell on a day when even some of the losers found reason to celebrate.
Campbell, who made five birdies on the back nine to make Pettersson sweat, shot 67 and earned enough money to jump from No. 43 to No. 17 on the money list and qualify for the Tour Championship.
"I'm not happy with second,'' Campbell said. "But I'm happy the result got me in the Tour Championship.''
Charles Howell III and Tim Herron narrowly got in, too, with Herron needing help from two players -- Tom Pernice Jr. making double-bogey on the 17th, and Steve Lowery missing a birdie putt on the last hole.
Tag Ridings, whose knees shake this time of the year as he tries to keep his PGA Tour card, shot 67 to tie for third and moved from No. 125 to No. 101 on the money list, securing a job for next year.
Still, the biggest winner on a sunny, breezy afternoon at Innisbrook was Pettersson, born in Sweden and raised in North Carolina, teased by his peers as the only Swedish redneck on the PGA Tour.
He finished at 9-under 275 and earned $954,000, fulfilling a dream he had as a kid of winning at the highest level.
"It was a little easier in the dreams,'' Pettersson said. "It's nice to finish it off the way I did.''
Tied with Steve Lowery at the start of the final round, Pettersson seized control when Lowery hit four straight shots on the par-3 eighth before anyone else in his threesome took a swing -- from the bunker over the green, halfway up the hill, 35 feet over the flag and a two-putt for triple-bogey.
Even then, Pettersson showed some mettle by making a 30-foot par of his own.
But the best stuff came late in the day, starting with his chip on the par-3 15th, a shot in which he had only 12 feet of green between the cup and the rough.
"I would have been happy with 10 feet,'' Pettersson said.
He chipped it to three feet for par, then saved par with a 10-foot putt on the 16th and stayed clear of trouble the rest of the way to hold off Campbell.
Even more dynamic than the finish was the race to finish in the top 30 and get into the $6.5 million Tour Championship next week at East Lake.
And no one sweated it out quite like Howell and Herron.
Howell, No. 30 on the money list at the start of the week, closed with 10 straight pars for an even-par 71. Then, he had to wait nearly two hours to see if that was enough. He watched the PGA Tour's scoring system, where the money is updated with every change on the leader board.
Only when the last group was on the 18th did Howell realize he was in.
"It was on my mind, absolutely it was,'' said Howell, who finished 33rd on the money list last year. "I thought I had to shoot anything under par. I shot par, and that was enough. It's a whole lot better slipping in than slipping out.''
Herron needed to make a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, and pulled it badly.
Behind him, however, Pernice took double-bogey on the 17th hole, which moved Herron up the leader board and back into the top 30. The last threat came from Lowery, who had a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to finish alone in third. That would cost Herron $40,000 and leave him outside the top 30.
Lowery missed, and Lumpy was in.
"I kind of dogged that last putt,'' Herron said as he drove to the airport, where he changed his flight from Mississippi to Atlanta. "I knew I was close. The way my luck has been going, I figured I would miss.''
Herron missed out on the last two World Golf Championships by one spot in the rankings and money list. He closed with a 70 and wound up in a seven-way tie for third, making enough money to finish 29th on the money list.
Disney winner Lucas Glover held down the 30th spot by $13,092 over Geoff Ogilvy, who missed the cut. Shigeki Maruyama, 29th on the money list coming in, bogeyed two of his last three holes.
Divots: Pettersson moved up to No. 43 on the money list and goes to the Southern Farm Bureau Classic with hopes of finishing in the top 40 to qualify for the Masters. ... Davis Love III was two shots out of the lead with 11 holes to play, but made three straight bogeys, then took triple-bogey on No. 16 and shot 76. ... The five winners at Innisbrook have come from five countries -- Pettersson (Sweden), Vijay Singh (Fiji), Retief Goosen (South Africa), K.J. Choi (South Korea) and John Huston (United States).
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
