VERONA, N.Y. — John Rollins was cool to the finish.

Rollins rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt on the final hole yesterday to complete a closing 64 and edge Bob May by one shot for the title at the final B.C. Open.

After ignoring the leaderboard all day, Rollins paused before he stood over that putt at No. 18 to glance skyward. He knew he was in contention for the title that had eluded him last year on the final hole. He just had to know where he stood.

"I knew it was a big putt, but I didn't know how big at the time," said Rollins, who finished at 19-under 269. "I had to take a look just to see how important it was, if I had to make it to get in a playoff, if I had to make it to win.

"It was not the easiest of putts to have when you need to make one to win," said Rollins, who won $540,000 to move past $1.2 million for the season. "I just stepped up, told myself I'd made a 1,000 of them or more in my career, and rolled it in."

It was the second career victory on the PGA Tour for Rollins, who won the 2002 Canadian Open. He nearly had another, finishing in a tie for second, one shot behind Jason Bohn, at last year's B.C. Open.

"It's nice to come back when you're so close and feel like you did everything except win," Rollins said. "Jason makes that clutch putt like I did this year on 18 to knock a bunch of us out of a playoff. To play that well and come up short, it's a nice way to come back. It's a big relief.

"It's not like a one-time fluke anymore. I've got that out of my own mind, if it was there or if it was on anybody else's mind."

The victory also moved Rollins into 10th place in the Ryder Cup standings with a month to go before the team is selected.

"It would mean a lot to me to go represent the team in Ireland," Rollins said.

May, who has battled back problems for nearly three years and is best known for his playoff loss to Tiger Woods at the 2000 PGA Championship, finished second for the third time in his career.