CHICAGO, USA (AFP) — Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, fired a six-under par 65 yesterday to win the US PGA’s $8-million BMW Championship after Jim Furyk squandered his sixth consecutive 54-hole lead.

Johnson, a 37-year-old American, fired a final-round 65 to finish 72 holes on 16-under par 268, two strokes ahead of countryman Nick Watney, who closed with a 64, with Furyk another shot adrift after a final-round 71.

Johnson captured the $1.44-million top prize and his 10th career title, his first since last year’s John Deere Classic, as well as giving himself a chance to win the $10-million tour play off crown with a victory in the season-ending Tour Championship that starts Thursday in Atlanta.

World number one Tiger Woods, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, Australian Adam Scott, and American Matt Kuchar can also claim the play off title with a victory in the 30-man showdown at East Lake.

Furyk botched a chance for his 16th career title and his first since winning the 2010 Tour Championship with another final-round failure, following on from last month’s PGA Championship when Jason Dufner passed him to win the year’s final major title.

England’s Luke Donald, who shared fourth with Aussie Jason Day and Americans Hunter Mahan and Steve Stricker on 273, jumped from 54th to 29th in the PGA season points race to qualify for the Tour Championship.

Watney jumped from 34th to 12th with his runner-up effort to also make the field in Atlanta, with England’s Lee Westwood and American Harris English bumped out of the Tour Championship by Donald and Watney.

Aussie Matt Jones fell short, sharing seventh on 274 to finish 32nd in points.

Furyk, who fired only the sixth 59 in US PGA Tour history on Friday to match the record-low for 18 holes, led Stricker by a stroke when they began the final round yesterday — a day late due to storms that halted play Sunday before the last 22 players in the field of 70 could tee off.

Stricker opened with a bogey to fall back as did Woods, who began five back but was never able to make a charge for the lead.

Furyk birdied the par-4 fourth hole to stretch his lead and began the back nine with a birdie to reach 15-under, two shots in front of Johnson, who birdied the par-3 second and had back-to-back birdies at the seventh and par-5 eighth.

But when Johnson birdied the par-4 12th and Furyk took a bogey at the par-3 11th, the US duo were deadlocked atop the leader board at 14-under with Watney only one stroke back.

Watney opened with three birdies in a row and matched that run with a streak that ended at the par-5 14th to stay on the heels of the leaders.

Watney birdied the par-3 17th and closed with a par to reach the clubhouse at 14-under with a share of the lead, while Furyk stumbled with a bogey at the 13th before making a birdie at the 14th to remain in the lead trio.

But Johnson birdied the par-4 16th to reach 15-under and made a 13-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th to grab a two-stroke lead.

Furyk found a bunker off the 16th tee, then the right rough and missed a 13-foot par putt, dropping him to 13-under and three back of Johnson. He could only muster pars on the par-3 17th and par-5 18th and Johnson took the title.