Shane Lowry’s has plenty of work to do in order to secure full playing priveleges for next season’s PGA Tour after his challenge in the Barracuda Championship faded tamely in the final round.
Lowry carded a fourth round 71 as he finished 16 points adrift of tournament winner Andrew Putnam - who secured his maiden Tour victory in Reno.
Lowry’s joint-15th finish moved him up three places in the FedEx Cup rankings from 159th to 156th - he faces an uphill battle to finish inside the top 125 and retain his full Tour card.
He now has this week’s US PGA Championship in St Louis, followed by the Wyndham Championsip, to try and salvage his season.
Graeme McDowell ended his week in Reno style with a 68, which was worth ten points and moved him up to a share of 44th place on 21 points overall - level with Seamus Power.
This means the former US Open champion moves up one place in the Fed Ex rankings to 142nd, with Power still just inside the cut-off in 123rd spot.
Padraig Harrington is way down the rankings in 219th place, after he carded a final round of 71 to finish on 20 points in Reno. The three-time Major winner has the fallback of a one-time career money exemption should he need it for next season.
Putnam meanwhile sealed his a four-point win thanks to a round of four-under 68.
Already leading the field as the final day began at the Montreux Golf and Country Club, Putnam picked up three shots on the way out, only dropping one on the fifth.
The 29-year-old made two more birdies after the turn to complete the round with nine points, bringing his total to 47.
Chad Campbell bagged 11 points with a five-under-par 67 to place the American in second, while countrymen John Oda and JJ Spaun tied third after each picking up eight points by going round in 69.
The Barracuda Championship — formerly known as the Reno-Tahoe Open — uses a Modified Stableford format, which allocates points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole.
Eight points are awarded for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie, zero for a par, minus one for a bogey and minus three for a double bogey or worse.
William McGirt of the US shot the round of the day, picking up 20 points with a nine-under 63 that saw him card eight birdies and an eagle to rocket 43 places into sixth.
Collated final round scores & totals in the Barracuda Championship (USA unless stated, par 72):
47 Andrew Putnam 6 17 15 9
43 Chad Campbell 6 4 22 11
37 John Oda 7 9 13 8, J.J. Spaun 7 12 10 8
36 Ollie Schniederjans 17 8 1 10
35 William McGirt 6 2 7 20
34 Chris Stroud 7 6 13 8, Sam Saunders 10 13 12
33 Vaughn Taylor 2 6 10 15, Brandon Harkins 5 13 3 12
32 Derek Fathauer 6 14 5 7, Benjamin Silverman (Can) 11 8 3 10, Hudson Swafford 12 10 11, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 7 8 6 11
31 Ethan Tracy 9 6 8 8, Michael Thompson 10 3 13 5, Matt Jones (Aus) 10 10 4 7, John Merrick 11 12 -3 11, Shane Lowry (Irl) 10 12 8 1, Martin Laird (Sco) 9 8 9 5, D.J. Trahan 8 10 -3 16
29 Scott Stallings 9 9 6 5
28 Hunter Mahan 7 12 9, Kevin Tway 8 8 1 11, Doug Ghim 6 3 11 8
27 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 14 12 1, Ryan Palmer 12 6 9, Johnson Wagner 6 2 12 7, Lanto Griffin 8 5 5 9
26 Nick Hardy 6 4 6 10, Dicky Pride 8 1 7 10, Zac Blair 12 12 2, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 3 10 10 3, Alex Cejka (Ger) 10 6 7 3
25 Tom Hoge 5 8 10 2
24 Denny McCarthy 14 3 1 6
23 Ricky Barnes 15 2 7, Sulman Raza 2 14 -4 11, Patrick Rodgers 9 3 9 2, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 11 6 7, Conrad Shindler 5 8 3 7
22 Ken Duke 2 8 11 1, Jonas Blixt (Swe) 3 6 9 4
21 Billy Hurley III 6 1 6 8, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 4 3 4 10, Dylan Meyer 10 2 10 , Jonathan Byrd 1 9 8 3, Brett Stegmaier 5 8 8, Seamus Power (Irl) 8 10 2 1
20 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 6 1 6 7, Harris English 2 8 3 7
19 Parker McLachlin 4 3 13
18 Joel Dahmen 9 9 2, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 6 11 -5 6, Charlie Beljan 10 5 5
17 Nicholas Lindheim 1 6 1 9
16 Kris Blanks 6 4 8 , Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 6 2 4 4, Rod Pampling (Aus) 9 4 5, Robert Streb 13 -3 1 5
11 Talor Gooch 7 3 1, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 10 5
10 Cameron Beckman 5 3 3
9 Jonathan Kaye 8 7 -3 -3, Martin Flores 4 5 1, Omar Uresti 8 2 -8 7
7 Andres Romero (Arg) 4 5 2 -4, Nick Taylor (Can) 2 6 -3 2
4 Brian Davis (Eng) 5 5 -7 1, Brendon Ger Jonge (Zim) 7 4 -6, Heath Slocum 4 5 -3
