Golf:Hunter Mahan shot a final round 64 to win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio while Tiger Woods retained his position as world number one despite suffering his worst tournament finish as a professional.
Mahan's first victory in a World Golf Championships event also assured him of a place in the American Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor in October.
Three strokes off the pace going into the final round at Firestone Country Club, the 28-year-old charged into contention with a sizzling front nine of five-under 30 and made two clutch putts to save par over the last four holes to post a 12-under total of 268 and finish two clear of fellow American Ryan Palmer.
With Woods finishing joint 78th in the 80-man field after a closing round of 77, Phil Mickelson knew he needed to finish fourth or better to move top of the world rankings.
The US Masters champion was joint 10th overnight and four shots off the lead, but endured a nightmare front nine of 41 to end his chances of ending Woods' five-year reign.
Mickelson finished with an eight over 78 in a tie for 46th, meaning Woods' stretch as world number one, which has run for 269 weeks since June 2005, is to continue until at least next week's USPGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin.
After finding a greenside bunker in two on the par-five second, Mickelson surprisingly thinned his recovery well over the green to run up a bogey six.
Worse was to come with a hat-trick of bogeys from the sixth followed by a double bogey six on the ninth, while yet more dropped shots on the 12th and 13th left Mickelson eight over par for the day and with a three over total of 283.
"It was a rough day if you couldn't tell," said Mickelson on www.pgatour.com. "I felt pretty good today. I felt good on the range, I hit some good shots.
"I felt like I was sharp and ready to go attack the golf course and make some birdies. And it just didn't happen.
"I don't know what to say. Then the round obviously got away. But it didn't feel like it was far off. But it turned out to be."
Earlier in the day, Woods had carded three birdies, six bogeys and two double bogeys to finish 18 over par at Firestone, a venue where he had won on his previous four visits and a US Tour record seven times in all.
That set an unwanted record for the world number one's highest 72-hole score in relation to par, while his total of 298 was also his highest score through four rounds of his PGA Tour career.
Woods' previous worst finish as a professional in an event in which he played four rounds was a tie for 60th at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open, his professional debut.
Woods said: "Shooting 18 over is no fun. It's tough. The only thing I can say is that all week I was patient. Unfortunately that's not enough."
Woods is currently outside the automatic qualifying places for the US Ryder Cup team with just one counting event remaining.
And asked if he wanted to play at Celtic Manor from October 1 to 3, he added: "Not playing like this. I would not help the team if I was playing like this.
"I think I can turn it around. We have a lot of time between now and then, which is good."
Mahan said: "I was hitting it sharp all week. I knew if I could get some pressure on them and get some momentum on my side early, maybe I could make a push for the lead and make something happen the last few holes.
"I got hot on that front nine.
"It feels great to win a tournament like this, the best players in the world are here."
Retief Goosen (65) and Bo van Pelt (67) finished in a tie for third, three shots behind, Sean O'Hair was alone in fifth a shot further back, while Furyk and Jeff Overton (69) tied for sixth on seven under.
Sweden's Peter Hanson (71) was the best-placed European on six under, with Open champion Louis Oosthuizen (65) of South Africa tied for ninth on five under alongside Padraig Harrington (66), Adam Scott (67), Steve Stricker (67), Rory McIlroy (69) and Matt Kuchar (73).
Collated final scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 70):
268Hunter Mahan 71 67 66 64
270Ryan Palmer 70 68 63 69
271Retief Goosen (Rsa) 67 66 73 65, Bo Van Pelt 67 68 69 67
272Sean O'Hair 67 70 64 71
273Jeff Overton 67 70 67 69, Jim Furyk 72 68 69 64
274Peter Hanson (Swe) 69 66 68 71
275Steve Stricker 68 71 69 67, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 68 69 69 69, Adam Scott (Aus) 66 70 72 67, Matt Kuchar 69 67 66 73, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 70 68 65, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69 70 70 66
276Dustin Johnson 72 65 68 71
277Nick Watney 68 68 69 72, Martin Laird (Sco) 70 71 68 68, Ryan Moore 70 68 70 69
278Kenny Perry 66 73 68 71, Justin Rose (Eng) 71 70 70 67, Stewart Cink 72 69 70 67
279 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 66 73 68 72, Lucas Glover 70 66 70 73, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 70 69 70, Bubba Watson 64 71 70 74, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 71 67 68 73, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 67 69 71, Jason Day (Aus) 69 70 69 71, Justin Leonard 68 66 69 76, Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 70 64 76, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 67 70 73, Paul Casey (Eng) 68 68 73 70
280Katsumasa Miyamoto (Jpn) 71 72 62 75, Bill Haas 73 66 71 70, Zach Johnson 70 70 71 69, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 71 67 67 75, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 71 68 67 74, Rickie Fowler 68 73 69 70
281Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 72 71 68, Ben Curtis 69 70 71 71, Heath Slocum 75 68 67 71, Scott Verplank 75 68 68 70, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 73 66 74 68
282J.B. Holmes 74 72 69 67, Troy Matteson 72 70 69 71
283Phil Mickelson 66 68 71 78, Chad Campbell 67 73 73 70, Ross Fisher (Eng) 70 68 74 71, K J Choi (Kor) 70 73 72 68, Boo Weekley 73 72 68 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 70 69 73 71, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 74 68 71 70
284Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 71 73 72 68, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 69 70 76
285Mike Weir (Can) 72 69 72 72, Ross McGowan (Eng) 71 69 70 75, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 71 71 70 73
286Ben Crane 71 70 72 73, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 73 70 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 68 68 77, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 72 75 69, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 72 72 68 74
287James Kingston (Rsa) 75 65 71 76, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 74 72 70 71
289Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 74 73 71, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 73 72 72 72, Ian Poulter (Eng) 72 70 77 70, Jason Bohn 71 68 73 77
290Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 72 76 69 73, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 68 72 74 76
291David Horsey (Eng) 73 71 75 72, Rhys Davies (Wal) 75 69 72 75, Camilo Villegas (Col) 75 73 71 72, Simon Dyson (Eng) 72 73 73 73
295Soren Hansen (Den) 71 75 72 77
296Anthony Kim 75 76 69 76, Simon Khan (Eng) 73 71 74 78
298Tiger Woods 74 72 75 77, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 76 74 76 72
300Henrik Stenson (Swe) 79 75 71 75