England's Luke Donald is not letting the rain dampen his celebrations after claiming his maiden PGA Tour win at the washed out Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

The rookie was declared the winner of the event in Madison after the final round was cancelled due to unplayable conditions at Annandale Golf Club.

Donald, the 1999 NCAA individual champion while at Northwestern University, had finished no higher than 13th in 41 previous starts.

He posted a 54-hole total of 15 under par 201, one stroke better than Deane Pappas.

Donald matched a career high by putting together three rounds in the 60s, including a five under 67 on Saturday.

He said: "I would have loved to have played today but unfortunately, it didn't happen.

"There was just too much water on the course. I would have loved to win the tournament in 72 holes but there is nothing we could have done about that.

"I'm just happy I was the leader after three rounds."

Donald became the 18th first-time Tour winner this year and third in as many weeks, extending a Tour record.

He took home 468,000 US dollars (£300,597) putting him over the one million dollar mark for the year.

Brad Elder finished alone in third place at 203, one stroke ahead of Brad Faxon, Jonathan Byrd, Spike McRoy, Chris Smith, Robin Freeman and Jay Williamson.

None of the relatively unknown players on the leaderboard got to the first tee on Sunday as only 12 groups actually began play.

Play was supposed to have resumed at 8:30am local time this morning but none of the players were able to get out on the course.

"We've got a golf course that is totally unplayable," said tournament director Slugger White.

"Holes one, four, five, six, seven, nine, 13, 16, 17, and 18 are under water and there is no place to take relief.

"You hate to end a year like this," added White.

"You like to have 72 holes and that is what our regulations go for and that is the reason we are here this morning.

"But it rained overnight, which we didn't think was going to happen."

It was the first 54-hole tournament on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson won the 2000 BellSouth Classic on the first hole of a play-off.

Pappas and Elder needed to win to finish in the top 125 on the money list and retain their playing cards.

They began the week 170th and 173rd respectively, and will now have to head to qualifying school later this month.

Even without the victory, Donald did not have to worry about his Tour card.

After building a 54-hole lead for the first time in his brief career, Donald became the 61st player to surpass the one million mark in 2002 and also gained a two-year exemption.

Scores:

201 Luke Donald (Gbr) 66 68 67

202 Deane Pappas (Rsa) 66 68 68

203 Brad Elder 65 67 71

204 Chad Campbell 69 66 69

205 Jonathan Byrd 66 68 71, Chris Smith 67 69 69, Jay Williamson 71 68 66, Brad Faxon 67 67 71, Robin Freeman 71 69 65, Spike McRoy 69 67 69

206 Brian Gay 68 71 67, Cameron Beckman 66 68 72, Tom Pernice Jr 69 71 66

207 Bob Heintz 68 69 70, Tommy Tolles 66 70 71, Kirk Triplett 66 69 72, Stewart Cink 70 68 69, Joe Durant 71 69 67, Jonathan Kaye 66 71 70

208 Brian Bateman 67 72 69, Mark Brooks 70 69 69, Lee Janzen 72 68 68, Frank Lickliter II 70 69 69, Shaun Micheel 72 70 66

209 Heath Slocum 70 67 72, Tim Petrovic 70 69 70, Jeff Gove 70 71 68, Ian Leggatt (Can) 70 71 68, Garrett Willis 68 71 70, Bart Bryant 69 71 69, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 72 67 70, Neal Lancaster 69 70 70, Jeff Maggert 68 68 73, David Peoples 67 73 69, Brett Quigley 69 70 70

210 John Senden (Aus) 67 71 72, Eduardo Herrera (Col) 66 70 74, David Morland IV (Can) 71 70 69, Joey Sindelar 71 70 69, Willie Wood 69 71 70, Brandel Chamblee 73 68 69, Paul Claxton 70 70 70, Joel Edwards 70 69 71, Dan Forsman 73 69 68, Steve Jones 69 68 73

211 Jason Hill 72 69 70, Stephen Gangluff 69 71 71, Brett Wetterich 75 66 70, Paul Gow (Aus) 69 70 72, Stephen Allan (Aus) 74 67 70, Notah Begay III 68 74 69, Tom Scherrer 71 69 71, Greg Kraft 69 73 69

212 John Riegger 69 72 71, Peter Lonard (Aus) 74 66 72, Gary Nicklaus 72 69 71, Mike Sposa 72 70 70, Scott Simpson 74 68 70, Russ Cochran 71 70 71, David Berganio Jr 71 71 70, Brian Henninger 70 71 71, Skip Kendall 69 70 73, Blaine McCallister 68 73 71, Dennis Paulson 72 67 73, Lee Porter 73 68 71

213 David Gossett 69 69 75, Jay Don Blake 71 69 73, Brad Lardon 67 72 74

214 Carlos Franco (Par) 68 71 75, Harrison Frazar 71 69 74, Billy Andrade 72 69 73, Andrew Magee 70 67 77, Bob May 71 70 73

215 Paul Stankowski 72 69 74, Glen Day 68 70 77

216 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 67 76