Britain's Luke Donald lost out in a three-way play-off at the Buick Invitational as John Daly won his first PGA title since the 1995 British Open.

Big-hitting Daly birdied the first extra hole to beat his fellow American Chris Riley and Donald.

Daly had played the final day in three over par, to finish in the group of three on aggregate 10-under-par 278, and he looked to be blowing his chances of triumphing - with form deserting him.

Donald and Riley had carded three-under-par 69s and were the form players of the trio.

But Daly's third shot to the par-five 18th - from a greenside bunker - finished just inches from the hole and he made birdie while his opponents could only achieve par as they missed putts from within six feet of the hole.

A favourite of golf fans for his booming drives, Daly erased nearly a decade of personal torment by claiming his fifth career title.

Throughout his roller-coaster career, Daly has battled alcohol and weight problems.

For his win, Daly collected £460,000 - more than any single-season total during his 13-year career.

There was a six-way tie for fourth place, with Thomas Bjorn, Shigeki Maruyama, Phil Mickelson, Jesper Parnevik, Bo Van Pelt and Duffy Waldorf just one shot behind the leading trio.

Tiger Woods carded a final-round 69 and was in a group of six sharing 10th place.

Collated final round scores and totals from the Buick Invitational, Torrey Pines GC

(USA unless stated, par 72):

278 John Daly 69 66 68 75, Chris Riley 67 71 71 69, Luke Donald (Eng) 69 69 71 69 (Daly won in a three-way playoff by sinking a birdie on replay of 18th hole)

279 Phil Mickelson 74 69 69 67, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 65 73 70 71, Bo Van Pelt 68 68 73 70, Duffy Waldorf 68 70 71 70, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 72 67 71 69, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 69 72 68

280 Brandt Jobe 69 69 70 72, Billy Mayfair 72 65 72 71, Stewart Cink 70 63 71 76, Tom Pernice Jnr. 71 68 69 72, Tiger Woods 71 68 72 69, Jay Haas 70 69 70 71

281 Tom Lehman 66 73 70 72, Craig Barlow 66 73 71 71, Steve Flesch 67 68 72 74, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 68 74 69, Brett Quigley 70 68 72 71

282 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 69 73 71 69, Bob Tway 66 73 71 72, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 72 65 71 74, Hank Kuehne 73 67 71 71

284 Dennis Paulson 69 69 67 79, Vaughn Taylor 74 65 72 73, Woody Austin 70 71 70 73, Roger Tambellini 68 71 70 75, Kj Choi (Kor) 68 73 74 69

285 Joey Sindelar 67 73 72 73, David Peoples 73 70 72 70, Jonathan Kaye 71 68 73 73, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 71 73 74, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 73 70 75 67, Tommy Tolles 68 73 71 73, Danny Ellis 71 71 71 72

286 Heath Slocum 67 73 75 71, Tripp Isenhour 74 67 73 72, Briny Baird 72 69 73 72

287 Grant Waite (Nzl) 73 69 74 71, Robert Allenby (Aus) 74 67 70 76, Zach Johnson 73 70 75 69, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 68 74 72 73, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 73 70 70 74

288 Tim Petrovic 67 74 77 70, Tom Carter (Afg) 76 66 73 73, Stephen Ames (Tt) 73 69 77 69, Kent Jones 70 73 72 73, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 69 70 72 77, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 66 73 74 75, Kevin Sutherland 66 74 75 73, Michael Allen (Irl) 72 69 75 72

289 Jay Williamson 70 69 78 72, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 71 70 72 76, Chad Campbell 69 73 74 73, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 69 72 74 74, Neal Lancaster 71 70 76 72, Todd Fischer 68 71 76 74

290 Bob Burns 71 70 72 77, Kevin Stadler 64 74 75 77, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 76 67 73 74, Ken Duke 70 70 76 74, Corey Pavin 70 73 75 72, Craig Bowden 70 70 74 76, Hal Sutton 67 70 76 77

291 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 67 74 79 71, Jason Bohn 74 67 74 76, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 70 75 76, Jason Dufner 70 71 72 78, Charles Howell III 69 74 75 73, Brian Bateman 70 73 74 74

292 Jay Delsing 71 72 76 73, Ted Purdy 65 75 71 81, Billy Andrade 72 68 77 75, Kevin Na (Kor) 72 69 78 73, Arron Oberholser 71 70 70 81

293 Chris Smith 71 72 77 73, Dean Wilson 70 68 77 78

294 Robert Damron 68 71 77 78

295 Patrick Sheehan 72 65 77 81, Keiichiro Fukabori (Jpn) 70 67 83 75

300 Spike McRoy 72 71 77 80