Argentina's Jose Coceres beat Davis Love III by one shot in the USPGA Tour's National Car Rental Golf Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Florida, to secure his second career title.

Coceres proved his April victory at Hilton Head was no fluke, overcoming a shaky front nine en route to a four-under-par 68 and a 72-hole total of 23-under 265.

Love fought valiantly with a disc problem in his neck but came up just short of his second title this season, making a birdie at the 18th hole after a 20-minute rain delay.

Coceres, 38, is one of only three South Americans to win a USPGA Tour event, countryman Roberto de Vicenzo and Paraguayan Carlos Franco being the others.

He took control with three consecutive birdies from the ninth and always led by at least two shots until Love's closing birdie.

Coceres, who grew up in a two-room house with 10 siblings, earned the £427,000 top prize to jump from 56th to 33rd on the money list with nearly £1.05million.

Earlier, Jerry Smith held the clubhouse lead after shooting 63 to reach 20-under 268.

He ended up in a tie for third place with David Peoples, with Steve Flesch alone in fifth at 269.

World number one Tiger Woods tied for 16th in his first tournament in six weeks after shooting a four-round total of 272.

Final scores and totals (US unless stated, par 72)

265 J Coceres (Arg) 68 65 64 68

266 D Love III 67 66 67 66

268 D Peoples 69 65 68 66, J Smith 66 66 73 63

269 S Flesch 73 65 66 65

270 D Ellis 67 68 70 65, S Kendall 68 70 64 68, S McCarron 65 71 65 69, J Parnevik (Swe) 71 65 67 67, C Perks 70 69 67 64, V Singh (Fij) 66 68 67 69, D Toms 66 68 69 67

271 S Appleby (Aus) 69 67 65 70, T Lehman 72 66 66 67, N Price (Zim) 70 69 67 65

272 W Austin 70 65 69 68, P Azinger 70 69 67 66, J Huston 70 66 69 67, B Mayfair 68 68 68 68, T Woods 69 67 67 69

273 T Armour III 70 67 67 69, S Cink 65 70 71 67, R Damron 71 66 70 66, L Janzen 70 67 65 71, B McCallister 67 69 70 67, R Mediate 73 64 68 68, T Pernice Jr 68 68 70 67, B Tway 67 69 69 68, K Yokoo (Jpn) 66 65 71 71

274 S Ames (Can) 69 70 67 68, L Porter 67 70 68 69

275 B Baird 68 69 69 69, F Couples 70 68 70 67, C DiMarco 68 70 66 71, R Walcher 71 68 68 68

276 R Allenby (Aus) 67 71 69 69, O Browne 71 68 68 69, B Burns 73 65 67 71, J Carter 72 66 71 67, G Kraft 70 67 69 70, B Langer (Ger) 67 72 67 70, L Mattiace 65 70 71 70, M Muehr 71 67 71 67, C Paulson 66 72 69 69, M Weir 66 71 70 69

277 G Day 69 69 69 70, J Riegger 69 68 72 68, S Verplank 68 70 70 69, J Williamson 69 67 72 69

278 JD Blake 69 70 68 71, M Brooks 68 69 72 69, J Cook 69 69 68 72, R Sabbatini (Rsa) 69 70 69 70, M Sposa 72 67 69 70, B Wilson 66 68 73 71

279 J Hart 68 71 70 70, B Henninger 70 68 71 70, G Hnatiuk (Can) 70 67 74 68

280 M Clark 72 64 73 71, M Dawson 72 65 68 75, M Goggin 71 67 71 71, C Howell 72 67 70 71, S Lowery 65 71 70 74, M McCumber 69 66 70 75, S Micheel 65 70 70 75, D Pride 70 69 71 70, T Tryba 70 68 69 73

282 M Kuchar 72 67 71 72

283 JL Lewis 69 70 72 72

286 D Morland IV (Can) 71 68 74 73, G Willis 72 66 75 73