Matteson's tournament total of 22-under 265 gave him a one-shot victory over fellow American Ben Crane and Swede Daniel Chopra at The Summerlin TPC and earned him a first prize cheque of $720,000 (£388,412) that moved him from 172nd on the money list to 78th and earned him a two-year exemption.

Matteson was expectedly overjoyed.

"It's an unbelievable feeling, I don't really think it's hit me yet,"he said.

"It will probably only hit me sometime tomorrow. I didn't picture myself winning an event this year. I was hoping only to save my tour card."

After the third round was suspended due to darkness, Matteson, 26, finished the round on Sunday morning with two birdies to take a one-shot lead entering the final round.

Showing no sign of Sunday nerves, 26-year-old was unspectacular, but rock solid with a series of faultless pars before sticking a six-iron approach to five feet on number 16.

He drained the easy putt for birdie and took a one-shot lead over Crane, who was playing one group ahead.

For a few breathless moments on the last three holes where Chopra closed in on Matteson with an eagle at 16 and a birdie at 17, Matteson looked as if he might be forced into a playoff.

After a par at 17, Matteson hit an excellent approach on the par-four 18th, but then so too did hard-charging Chopra, and it was only after the Swede missed his birdie putt that Matteson allowed himself to two-putt from six feet to secure a victory that was as solid as you could wish for in this life-changing moment.

Matteson credited his putting - and the fact that he had his brother James as his caddy - for his victory.

"Nobody can really calm you like family, like your brother. We really have a bond; it's always going to be there.

"We have been playing craps and blackjack this week, going to dinner, things like that, and it's been a lot of fun.

"He just kept talking to me, keeping me relaxed and telling me things he's been telling me my whole life."

Matteson holed several crucial putts down the stretch that made all the difference in a ridiculously long, tense, final round that stretched into six hours and said of them: "I'm typically a pretty good short putter and to come through on those six and seven-footers all day was pretty important," he said

Best of the Brits was Mansfield golfer Greg Owen, one of eight players who tied for 16th at 15-under-par 272 following a final-round 68.

ALL THE FINAL ROUND SCORES

(US unless stated, par 72)

265 Troy Matteson 67 65 64 69

266 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 69 67 64 66, Ben Crane 66 71 64 65

267 Frank Lickliter II 67 69 67 64

268 Charley Hoffman 66 66 65 71, Lee Janzen 70 66 66 66

269 Bubba Dickerson 65 71 66 67, Tom Pernice Jnr. 66 65 70 68

270 Joey Sindelar 68 66 69 67, Ronald Whittaker 70 66 68 66

271 Bill Haas 68 65 67 71, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 72 65 68 66, Bo Van Pelt 69 64 71 67, Rich Beem 65 69 71 66, Kevin Sutherland 67 69 65 70

272 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 68 68 67 69, Greg Owen (Eng) 66 69 69 68, Mark Wilson 66 71 68 67, Chad Campbell 70 67 68 67, Jim Furyk 68 68 70 66, Duffy Waldorf 65 68 68 71, Robert Damron 68 66 69 69, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 68 64 70 70

273 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 66 65 70 72, Kevin Na (Kor) 68 69 67 69, Paul Azinger 66 70 68 69, Vance Veazey 65 70 72 66, Tim Petrovic 68 66 71 68, Harrison Frazar 68 66 70 69, Brent Geiberger 68 64 68 73

274 Arron Oberholser 70 67 69 68, Bart Bryant 67 69 66 72, Jeff Gove 69 68 68 69, Darron Stiles 70 68 68 68, Kris Cox 67 70 65 72, D.A. Points 65 64 72 73, Tjaart Van der Walt (Rsa) 70 67 68 69, Jason Gore 68 67 69 70

275 Mike Sposa 67 71 69 68, Eric Axley 68 67 72 68, Craig Parry (Aus) 67 70 69 69, Fred Funk 66 69 71 69, Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 68 71 66

276 Dean Wilson 70 66 67 73, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 67 69 67 73, Brian Gay 69 67 68 72, Todd Fischer 66 65 79 66, Scott Piercy 66 68 73 69, Bubba Watson 67 66 71 72, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 68 67 70 71

277 Will MacKenzie 64 70 73 70, David Branshaw 70 68 72 67, Steve Flesch 64 74 69 70, Chris DiMarco 70 68 67 72, Olin Browne 68 68 69 72

278 Patrick Sheehan 64 73 71 70, Kent Jones 70 68 69 71, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 71 67 68 72, Todd Hamilton 65 70 76 67, Rocco Mediate 69 69 71 69, Jonathan Byrd 68 68 72 70, Bob May 70 68 68 72

279 Andres Gonzales 70 68 71 70, John Rollins 65 72 72 70, J.B. Holmes 66 70 73 70, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 72 65 68 74, Jason Schultz 69 69 69 72

280 David McKenzie (Aus) 71 64 74 71, Bob Estes 71 65 73 71, Jeff Overton 69 69 72 70, Tag Ridings 68 66 73 73, Mark Hensby (Aus) 74 64 67 75, Scott Verplank 69 68 70 73, Alex Aragon 70 68 69 73

281 Justin Leonard 69 69 74 69, Michael Allen 70 68 72 71, Robert Garrigus 70 67 71 73, Nicholas Thompson 70 65 71 75

282 Bill Glasson 66 72 73 71, Wes Short jr. 68 65 74 75

284 Jonathan Kaye 71 67 72 74, Bob Tway 63 70 75 76

289 Nathan Green (Aus) 69 65 76 79, Skip Kendall 68 70 75 76

290 Greg Kraft 68 69 74 79, Ryan Moore 71 66 74 79