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GREENSBORO — Rest assured, Arjun Atwal is finished with Monday qualifying for the foreseeable future.

Winning on the PGA Tour changes things significantly.

Atwal played an off-the-wall approach and drained a nerve-jangling 7-foot par putt on the final hole to win the Wyndham Championship by one stroke Sunday at Sedgefield.

The slippery little putt wrapped up a five-round odyssey for Atwal that began at Forest Oaks on Monday and ended as the best week in the 37-year-old's pro career.

"It was a longtime dream of mine to win out here," Atwal said. "Until it happens, you just keep doubting yourself and, believe me, I had my doubts teeing it up today even with ... a three-shot lead."

Atwal sweated his way through a final-round 67, overcoming a handful of errant approach shots to finish at 20-under-par — one better than major champion David Toms, who shot 64.

Another major champion, Justin Leonard, led a group of four players two shots back.

Still another major champ, Lucas Glover, birdied six of the last seven holes on the front nine and made the turn at 20-under. But Glover, a Clemson alumnus and crowd favorite who has family in High Point, lost three strokes on the back nine and faded to a seventh-place finish.

"Three-over on the back," said Glover, who hasn't won since his victory in the U.S. Open last year. "You don't win doing that. ... I didn't think (20-under) was going to be enough, but I just hit bad shots and didn't make any putts. I got what I deserved."

So did Atwal.

A journeyman pro known more for a fatal car crash in 2007 than for a golf game that earned him nine international victories, Atwal held up under the pressure Sunday at Sedgefield.

With five holes to play, Atwal saw himself on a leaderboard as one of five players tied for the lead at 18-under.

"It just kept changing," Atwal said. "Lucas was up there when I was playing the front nine. I saw Justin Leonard's name, then David Toms, then somebody else."

Atwal won it in those final five holes. He birdied No. 14. He got a good bounce and a free lift and escaped No. 15 with par. He birdied No. 16. He finished with two pars.

"My goal was to get it to 21 (under par) today, because I knew guys were going to shoot low," Atwal said. "I came up one short. ... Actually, that's the number my friend, Tiger Woods, told me to get to (in a text message) last night."

Turns out, 20 was enough.

Playing three groups in front of Atwal, Toms made a long birdie putt on No. 18 to get to 19-under.

"I knew I had to make that putt to have any chance at all," Toms said. "It's fun for me to be a part of it. It's been a long year. I haven't experienced being in it since last year. It feels good to see what I can do under pressure again."

Atwal got creative under pressure.

He needed a par on the 507-yard 18th — a par-5 for members, but a par-4 this week — and he didn't like his downhill lie.

After his tee shot left him in the first cut of rough 192 yards from the pin, Atwal pulled out a 5-iron.

"It was a perfect club," Atwal said, "but if it doesn't get up, it's going to catch one of the bunkers. Then I have a 30-yard bunker shot, and it'd be impossible to get up and down (for par)."

So instead, he played a bank shot. Atwal used a hybrid, with the longer range of about a 3-iron, and hit it 207 yards off the CBS tower, knowing he would get a drop with no penalty.

"I knew even if it goes scooting, it will hit one of the stands and be fine," Atwal said. "That's what it did. Up and down from there wasn't that hard."

Atwal's chip from 18 yards stopped 6 feet, 8 inches, from the cup.

"I was really nervous over that putt," Atwal said. "It was the most nervous I've been in my whole entire life. ... My heart rate was probably like 150 at the time."

When the putt went in, Atwal dropped his putter and let the moment wash over him.

He is the first India-born player to win on the PGA Tour. He's the first Monday qualifier to win on tour since Fred Wadsworth at the 1986 Southern Open.

He's the first wire-to-wire winner in Greensboro since Jesper Parnevik in 1999.

That's a whole lot of firsts.

And for the first time in a long time, Atwal doesn't have to worry about Monday qualifying.

He won $918,000 and — more important — a two-year exemption to play on the PGA Tour. He lost his card after a medical exemption ran out last month, and he's not eligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs that begin this week.

"I'm not going to the FedEx Cup," Atwal told the crowd gathered around Sedgefield's 18th green, "but I'm going to Disney World."

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

LEADERBOARD
With Sunday's final-round score and under-par score:

Arjun Atwal — 67 -20

David Toms — 64 -19

John Mallinger — 62 -18

Michael Sim — 62 -18

John Rollins — 65 -18

Justin Leonard — 65 -18

Complete leaderboard: At PGATour.com