Furyk hits the jackpot again

In America's gambling capital, few people have hit the jackpot as often as Jim Furyk

In America's gambling capital, few people have hit the jackpot as often as Jim Furyk. Furyk used a run of three straight birdies late in Sunday's fifth and final round to edge Jonathan Kaye and win the Las Vegas Invitational for the third time in five years.

All but one of Furyk's four PGA Tour titles have come at this event, including the first of his career in 1995 and a one-shot triumph in 1998 that ended a two-year victory drought.

Furyk two-putted for par at the 18th green to complete a six-under-par 66, finishing with a 90-hole total of 29-under 331. Kaye birdied the 18th for a 64 but ended up one shot back.

With a three-shot lead to start the day, Furyk had just three birdies through 13 holes on a relatively easy scoring day at the TPC at Summerlin. Gusting winds made conditions brutal on Saturday and only two players - Furyk and Glen Day - managed to break par.

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While Furyk continued to settle for pars, playing partner Kaye was making a charge. He birdied the first three holes and added three more at the sixth, ninth and 11th to join Furyk at the top of the leaderboard. But Kaye recorded the final pairing's only bogey of the day at the 12th hole.

Kaye hit his tee shot right of the fairway and behind a tree. He was forced to pitch the ball sideways, back to the fairway.

Kaye recovered with a birdie at the 13th but Furyk answered with one of his own at the next hole to spark his decisive run of three in a row. Kaye remained without a win on the PGA Tour as he settled for his second career runner-up finish.

The win turned around an otherwise disappointing season for Furyk, who had only one top-five in 23 starts entering this event. The $450,000 first prize bumped him from 24th to 12th on this year's money list with over $1.6 million.