PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) – Carl Pettersson steadied his nerves and his swing down the stretch Sunday, saving par with a tough chip on the 15th and a clutch putt on the 16th for an even-par 71 to win the Chrysler Championship for his first PGA Tour victory.

Chad Campbell made five birdies on the back nine in a terrific charge, including a 12-foot putt that swirled into the cup on the 18th hole for a 67 that left Pettersson no room for error.

Leading by one shot, Pettersson found the middle of the fairway and hit his approach 20 feet by the cup. Trying to nestle the ball close to the hole, he ran it 3 feet by, but made that for par and the $954,000 prize.

Pettersson, born in Sweden and raised in North Carolina, had always dreamed of playing and winning on the PGA Tour, and this capped it off. He finished at 9-under 275, but not before an improbable chip on the 15th to save par, a 10-foot par save on the next hole and no mistakes on the last two.

“It was a little easier in the dreams,” Pettersson said. “It’s nice to finish it off the way I did.”

The consolation prize for Campbell was a trip to the Tour Championship. He showed up at Innisbrook at No. 43 on the money list, but second-place earnings of $572,400 easily pushed him into the top 30.

“I’m not happy with second,” Campbell said. “But I’m happy the result got me in the Tour Championship.”

Steve Lowery, who started the final round tied at 9 under with Pettersson, lost his chance to win for the first time in five years on the par-3 eighth hole. From an uphill lie in a front bunker, Lowery caught it clean and sent the ball over the green in the pine straw, with a branch behind his ball. It took him two chips to get to the green, and his triple bogey sent him tumbling out of the lead.

Davis Love III also struggled, making three straight bogeys around the turn and taking a triple bogey on the 16th hole when he hit into the water. Love closed with a 76.

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 Charles Howell III and Tim Herron.

Howell closed with 10 straight pars for an even-par 71, then had to wait nearly two hours to see whether it was enough. He watched the PGA Tour’s scoring system, where the money is updated with every change on the leaderboard. 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, Tom Pernice Jr. took double bogey on the 17th hole, which moved Herron up the leaderboard 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.

Herron missed two World Golf Championships by one spot in the rankings.

“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.”

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 last spot, getting in 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.

Tag Ridings left with a smile, having closed with a 67 to tie for third. Riding was No. 125 on the money list, but moved all the way to 101st and secured his card. Ridings made a birdie putt on the 18th hole at Innisbrook last year to finish at No. 125, so he’ll go to the Southern Farm Bureau Classic with no worries.

“It will be nice playing golf without any heat on me,” Ridings said.

Still, the biggest winner was Pettersson.

The 28-year-old Swede, whose father was transferred to North Carolina when he was in high school, survived a difficult Copperhead course, a late surge by Campbell and an array of tough shots.

It started on the par-3 eighth, where Lowery made triple bogey. Pettersson was in the front bunker with an uphill lie, impossible to throw the ball to a back pin. He came up 30 feet short, but made that for par.

“I knew that was my chance,” he said.

The best came later in the day, however, when his 4-iron missed the green to the right. He was in thick rough, with only 12 feet of green to work with, and chipped to 3 feet.

“I would have been happy with 10 feet,” Pettersson said.

The hardest putt of all was trying to lag downhill from 20 feet, but Pettersson managed a two-putt par to win.

AP-ES-10-30-05 1807EST