Play-off agony for Martin Laird after costly miss at the last hole

The 27-year-old Glaswegian holed an eight-foot birdie putt at the penultimate hole to board the last tee with a one-shot lead and safely found the 18th green in two.

However, he raced his first putt from 20 feet past the hole and missed the next one, closing with a level-par 71 to finish tied with Kuchar (66) on 12-under-par. Both players missed the fairway with their drives at the first extra hole but Kuchar, playing first, conjured up a miraculous second from the left rough, using the contours of the green to finish two-and-and-half feet from the hole. From the opposite rough, Laird played a good shot himself but ended 50 feet away and was unable to match Kuchar's title-clinching birdie.

"It's obviously not the finish I would have like but I am very proud of the way I played today," Laird said. "I was battling all day and I holed two or three big putts just to be where I was. I'm not too upset with my three putt on the last because I didn't think I hit my first one too hard, I just had no idea how fast that putt was.

"The last thing I wanted to do was trickle it down there and leave it three feet short down the hill. I felt good and had just holed a bit putt on 17 and was just trying to stay calm."

It was a disappointing end for the Scot, who held a three-shot lead going into the final round and increased that cushion to five after starting with two birdies. He then dropped three shots in the space of the next two holes to open the door to the chasing pack and was level with Kuchar two holes to play.

The Scot hit two great 3-woods to be just off the front edge at the long 17th and saw his first putt roll eight feet past but holed the return to regain the lead.

He'd taken just 22 putts in the first 17 holes - but three-putted the last to ultimately miss out on a $1.35m winner's cheque and also the top spot in the FedEx Cup. Laird had put himself at the top of the leaderboard after reeling off four birdies in a row from the second hole in his third round on the way to a 12-under-par total of 201.

Laird, who clinched his US tour card with a victory last season in Las Vegas, said he really enjoyed playing the classic, tree-lined course where he tied for seventh the last time the Barclays was staged at Ridgewood in 2008.

"I love it," the Scot said about the AW Tillinghast design just 30 minutes drive from midtown Manhattan. "I don't think there's a bad hole on this golf course."

Meanwhile, Michelle Wie won the CN Canadian Women's Open for her second career victory on the LPGA Tour.

Wie shot a two-under 70 yesterday to move to 12 under for the tournament at the St.Charles Country Club.

Jiyai Shin of South Korea shot a 1-over 73 and tied for second with Kristy McPherson of South Carolina (66), defending champion Suzann Pettersen of Norway (69) and Jee Lee Young from South Korea (69).

Wie was tied with Shin for the lead entering the final round. The Hawaiian 20-year-old earned $337,500 for winning the LPGA's only stop in Canada