Joey Sindelar, ranked 222nd in the world, stormed home with a hat-trick of late birdies before winning a play-off at the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte.

Sindelar began his birdie rush at the 15th hole to catch the faltering Arron Oberholser at 11-under-par 277 at Quail Hollow.

He parred the second extra hole to fend off Oberholser for his seventh PGA Tour win and first since 1990.

"I never gave up hope," said Sindelar, who at one time was trading at 999-1 on the Betfair exchanges.

"It will take me a while to understand this is real."

His hopes appeared dashed after he double-bogeyed the 10th hole, but that was his last mistake as he carded a 69. Oberholser, the third-round leader, carded a 72 after bogeying the 16th and 17th holes.

"I'm not that disappointed," Oberholser said.

"Under the pressure I played under, I think I did a great job."

Tiger Woods (68) and Carlos Franco (70) tied for third, one shot behind, while Masters champion Phil Mickelson (67) was among a group two strokes back.

After a poor third round, Woods played much better, but a five-shot deficit proved too much to overcome.

Fiji's Vijay Singh, trying to win for the third week in a row, charged into contention with an eagle at the 15th hole, but bogeyed the 17th and double-bogeyed the last to tie for 10th, four shots off the pace.

Collated (USA unless stated, par 72):

277 Joey Sindelar 69 69 70 69 (Wins on the 2nd playoff hole with a par on 16th), Arron Oberholser 69 68 68 72

278 Carlos Franco (Fra) 68 71 69 70, Tiger Woods 69 66 75 68

279 Phil Mickelson 70 70 72 67, Notah Begay III 67 70 69 73, Jeff Maggert 71 69 67 72, Steve Flesch 72 72 66 69

280 Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 69 71 71 69

281 Heath Slocum 67 75 67 72, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 71 66 75, Lucas Glover 74 70 68 69, Kevin Sutherland 71 68 71 71, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 70 71 72

282 Kirk Triplett 64 73 71 74, Jonathan Kaye 68 74 69 71, Tom Byrum 74 69 71 68, Matt Gogel 69 72 70 71, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 66 72 70 74, Luke Donald (Eng) 67 73 73 69

283 Pat Perez 73 70 70 70, Chad Campbell 70 74 66 73, Davis Love III 73 66 72 72, J J Henry 72 70 70 71, Todd Hamilton 71 71 70 71, Nick Price (Zim) 74 69 70 70, Mike Weir (Can) 67 72 75 69

284 Spike McRoy 69 74 71 70, Joe Ogilvie 68 71 76 69, Cameron Beckman 67 72 71 74, Jay Haas 71 73 71 69

285 Jason Bohn 71 70 72 72, Gene Sauers 70 72 71 72, John Senden (Aus) 69 73 71 72

286 Rich Beem 70 73 68 75, Pat Bates 75 68 72 71, Donnie Hammond 72 70 73 71, John Cook 74 70 67 75, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 71 72 71 72, Daniel Chopra (Se) 73 68 71 74, John Riegger 74 70 73 69, KJ Choi (Kor) 71 73 69 73, Ben Curtis 71 71 74 70

287 Shaun Micheel 70 72 74 71, Dean Wilson 73 71 74 69, Peter Lonard (Aus) 73 68 72 74, Scott Hend (Eng) 73 71 71 72, Brett Quigley 66 72 74 75, Jeff Sluman 70 73 70 74

288 Rich Barcelo 74 68 72 74, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 66 74 74 74, Tripp Isenhour 71 71 75 71, Robert Allenby (Aus) 72 68 74 74, Chris DiMarco 69 70 76 73, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 72 69 76 71

289 David Peoples 70 71 75 73, Brad Faxon 73 71 72 73, Kelly Mitchum 72 69 77 71, Steve Allan (Aus) 69 74 72 74, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 69 75 72 73

290 Billy Mayfair 70 74 76 70, Brent Geiberger 70 74 74 72, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 71 76 70

291 Tim Clark 73 69 71 78, Tom Carter 73 70 73 75

292 Jerry Kelly 69 74 75 74, Michael Allen (Irl) 74 69 70 79, Robert Damron 72 71 73 76

293 Grant Waite (Nzl) 72 71 76 74

295 Blaine McCallister 70 74 78 73, Matt Kuchar 76 68 73 78

300 Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 72 71 77 80