Brandt Snedeker of the USA beat England's Luke Donald on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the PGA Tour's Heritage tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.
Snedeker fired a superb closing round of 64 to post a clubhouse total of 12-under-par. He then faced an agonising wait to see if those following could match or better him. It was fully two hours from when Snedeker finished until the final group came through the 18th.
Overnight leader Luke Donald moved to 13-under-par with birdies at the 4th and 5th holes but bogeys at the 7th and 10th cancelled out those gains. He made another birdie at the 13th then parred his way in to tie with Snedeker.
The Englishman looked to have played himself out of it on the 17th when his tee shot went through the back but, displaying his great scrambling skills, he got up and down for par. He repeated that feat on the 18th after his second shot found the sand.
On the first extra hole, both Donald and Snedeker made birdie. The pair then went to the par-3 17th where Donald once again got up and down to save par and keep his hopes alive.
The playoff then returned to the 18th. Donald's approach found the sand and ended semi-plugged. He blasted out and then narrowly missed his effort for par. Snedeker made his four and the tournament was his.
"To win this time, after all the hard work I put in the last three or four years, trying to improve, trying to get better," he said. "I feel like my game is finally there."
Donald would have risen to World Number 1 had he taken the title and he was obviously disappointed to just miss out.
"It was going to be some big rewards if I won today," he said. "But I'll try and find the positives from this week and move on."
Jim Furyk, Donald's closest challenger at the start of the final round, had a shocking day closing with a 76 to end in a tie for 21st.
The Heritage Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina Apr 21-24, purse $5,700,000, par 71
1 Brandt Snedeker (USA) 69 67 72 64 272 $1,026,000 2 Luke Donald (Eng) 67 65 70 70 272 $615,600 3 Tommy Gainey (USA) 71 67 67 68 273 $387,600 T4 Ricky Barnes (USA) 71 67 67 69 274 $250,800 T4 Tim Herron (USA) 65 71 71 67 274 $250,800 T6 Ben Crane (USA) 69 66 71 70 276 $190,950 T6 Nick O'Hern (Aus) 70 66 72 68 276 $190,950 T6 Pat Perez (USA) 71 67 68 70 276 $190,950 T9 Jason Day (Aus) 69 65 71 72 277 $142,500 T9 Paul Goydos (USA) 72 67 70 68 277 $142,500 T9 Kevin Na (USA) 70 68 73 66 277 $142,500 T9 Scott Verplank (USA) 67 70 67 73 277 $142,500 T9 Garrett Willis (USA) 64 69 74 70 277 $142,500
Note: Player in bold signifies Titleist ball usage only
