Nick Watney recovered from a pair of early bogeys to claim victory in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, his first PGA Tour title, while Australian Michael Sim was nine shots off the pace. An eagle at the fifth helped him to a three-under-par 69 and a three-shot victory over Ken Duke at TPC Louisiana. The leader by two shots entering the final round, Watney lost the advantage after 10 holes before regrouping with birdies at 11 and 14 to win comfortably and give himself an early birthday present. Watney, who turns 26 on Thursday, finished at 15-under 273, pocketing 1.098 million US dollars ( 540,870) and a coveted two-year exemption. His previous best finish was a fifth-place tie last season at both the Reno-Tahoe Open and the FUNAI Classic. Duke, who was also seeking his first tour title, carded four birdies over the first eight holes and grabbed a one-shot lead at 14-under when Watney bogeyed the 10th. The 38-year-old, whose best PGA finish is a ninth-place tie, could not register another birdie and fell off the pace with bogeys at the 14th and 18th. Anthony Kim had the day&aposs best round, a seven-under 65, and finished tied for third with John Mallinger at 11-under 277. Sim was the best of the Australians, carding a final round 72 to finish in a tie for 18th at six-under overall, while Matthew Goggin (71) tied for 28th alongside Steve Elkington (70) and Jarrod Lyle (73), with all three finishing the tournament at four-under. Peter Lonard also recovered from a poor third round to card 72 on the final day to tie for 38th as Steve Allan (72) and Mark Hensby (76) finished further back in the field. Zurich Classic of New Orleans -15: Nick Watney 69 67 68 69 -12: Ken Duke 69 71 66 70 -11: Anthony Kim 71 72 69 65, John Mallinger 69 70 71 67 -10: Bubba Watson 72 67 70 69, Chris Stroud 68 70 71 69, Mark Calcavecchia 66 69 72 71 -9: Alex Cejka 70 72 69 68, Lucas Glover 67 69 74 69, Bob Estes 69 71 70 69 also: -6: Michael Sim (AUS) 71 69 70 72 -4: Matthew Goggin (AUS) 70 72 71 71, Steve Elkington (AUS) 70 72 72 70, Jarrod Lyle (AUS) 71 69 71 73 -3: Peter Lonard (AUS) 71 68 74 72 -1: Steve Allan (AUS) 72 71 72 72 1: Mark Hensby (AUS) 72 69 72 76