Appleby triumphs in play-off

Las Vegas Invitational: Australian Stuart Appleby birdied the first play-off hole to defeat Scott McCarron and win the $4 million Las Vegas Invitational on Sunday.

The two players both found the fairway at the par-four 18th before hitting their approach shots within a couple of inches of each other.

Appleby sank a 15-foot putt while McCarron's effort rolled past the left side of the hole, giving the Australian his first win since the 1999 Houston Open.

The 32-year-old Appleby returned a closing three-under-par 69 while McCarron fired a 66 for tournament record 31-under totals of 328 in the five-day, 90-hole event.

Three different courses, two par-72s and one par-71, were used for the first three days of the pro-am competition but the TPC at Summerlin hosted the final two rounds.

Steve Lowery (67) came third on 331, 28 under, followed by Scott Verplank (67) on 332 and South African David Frost (65) on 333. Woody Austin (67) and Steve Flesch (74) tied for sixth on 334. Darren Clarke was well out of contention, finishing with a round of 63 for a total of 346.

"Winning is obviously what we are trying to do out here," Appleby said after collecting the fourth PGA Tour victory of his career. It's been a bit of a drought for me, four years, four months.

"Winning is great, there are a lot of things that come with it. Ultimately, holing the putt on the last, makes a lot of other great things happen."

Appleby, McCarron and Flesch, the final group at Summerlin, jockeyed for position on the front nine. Flesch took a brief lead when he birdied the sixth to reach 28-under while Appleby bogeyed to drop back to 27-under with McCarron.

The Australian then birdied the final two holes on the front nine to make the turn at 29-under, tied with Flesch, who also birdied the par-five ninth. But Flesch bogeyed the 12th and 13th while McCarron tied Appleby at 30-under with a birdie on 13.

The two leaders birdied the 15th before Appleby picked up another stroke at the 16th. But the Australian, for the second day in a row, almost found the water at the 17th and made a bogey. "I took my medicine, I guess it was a healthy one, with a bogey four on that hole. That put it all tied going into the last hole."

^{LEADING FINAL SCORES (USA unless stated, Par 72): (x-won playoff) 328 - x-S Appleby (Aus) 62 68 63 66 69, S McCarron 69 62 64 67 66. 331 - S Lowery 65 64 70 65 67. 332 - SVerplank 64 62 66 73 67. 333 - D Frost (Rsa) 67 65 71 65 65. 334 - S Flesch 62 64 66 68 74, W Austin 65 65 65 72 67. Other: 346 - D Clarke (NIrl) 63 71 68 73 71.}