First, he has dining commitments.

"I'm so happy for my good friend 'Bowdo' and our pro, Scott Hamilton (the swing coach of both men). Couldn't have happened to a better guy," fellow Tour pro and close friend Boo Weekely told Fairfax Media.

"I know how much he wanted to win in Dallas. He is a good friend and he owes me a nice dinner."

Bowditch and Weekley, a colourful Florida-native who was in Australia last summer, are as thick as thieves off the course and many have credited their odd-couple relationship as one of the springboards for Bowditch's resurgence as an elite golfer.

So it was fitting that Weekley was one of the first to show some love for Bowditch after his four-stroke win (-18) at the TPC Four Seasons course in Irving, where he fended off Americans Charley Hoffman, Jimmy Walker and Scott Pinckney for the $US1.25 million purse.

Everything is bigger in the Lone Star State and Bowditch clearly loves the wide, open spaces. His PGA Tour breakthrough came at the Valero Texas Open in March last year, while this latest victory moves him to 16th on the FedEx Cup rankings, effectively the Tour championship.

"His friendship with Boo Weekley has been fantastic," said PGA of Australia chairman Mark Gibson, a pro at Royal Pines who has followed Bowditch's career since he was a junior blessed with a phenomenal ability to go low.

"He's [Weekley] not your typical PGA Tour player who you ask a question and get a vanilla answer. With him, you get it in all sorts of various shades and that really suits Steve."

Bowditch, who was born in Newcastle but lives on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, doesn't enjoy the polished profile of Adam Scott or Jason Day but for grassroots Australian golf fans, his coast-to-coast victory is worth savouring.

In 2009, Bowditch revealed he had been suffering clinical depression for most of his adult life. Golf was wedged somewhere in the middle of a whirlwind of booze and benders as he tried to calm the inner-demons, all the while attempting to make a living off his undeniable talent.

If his aggressive play could be reckless, his lifestyle had become downright dangerous. He once tried to drown himself in a pool and would drink himself into a stupour before and after rounds, losing his Tour card after 2006 before a return in 2011.

Now happily married to Amanda (they were married at the very same resort as Bowditch's win), Bowditch has been to hell and back and stands the taller for his tribulations.

"My personal life, it's a closed door. But it's built me into the person I am today," Bowditch said, before garnering extra husband points by adding: "Taking photos on that green today, it's definitely the second-best time I've had on that green since we got married."

Among his Australian peers, Bowditch is still regarded as a 'mega-talent' that can match it with anyone in the game when the stars align. Despite the hefty pay packet, he remains something of a working-class hero.

"He's a bit of a people's champion. [Adam] Scotty is a very polished product. Jason Day is very solid in what he believes and what he does. Steve is a bit more of 'this is what you get - if you don't like it, that's ok by me'," Gibson said.

"I think Australians enjoy that larrikin attitude that he has. He doesn't concern himself with image. Steve is Steve. He still loves a chat, he's very relaxed. He's great with the public. He's the sort of person I love to see win.

"And we haven't seen the best of him by any stretch."