Stuart Appleby came from four shots behind to successfully defend his title at the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii.

The Australian - who was tied for 29th place in the 31-man tournament after the first round - produced an admirable comeback, timing his run to perfection to beat Jonathan Kaye by one shot in the winners-only event.

He shot a closing 67 in difficult conditions to finish on 21 under par at 271 on the Kapalua Plantation course.

Kaye had a chance to tie at the last, but missed his long birdie chance after a poor pitch.

He shot a 71 to finish on 20 under, while Tiger Woods (68) and Ernie Els (71) tied for third, two shots behind.

Third-round leader Vijay Singh stumbled with a 74 to tie for fifth - three shots off the pace.

His bogey at the fourth hole ended a run of 57 consecutive holes without a dropped shot, but it was a triple-bogey at the 12th, where he pulled his drive into the punishing long grass, that ended his effort.

Appleby, 33, collected £565,000 for his sixth PGA Tour victory, boosting his already high spirits as he prepares for the birth of his first child, due in the next few days.

He arrived in Hawaii last Tuesday with an inflamed nerve which caused pain in his left leg, but the injury improved in time for the first round, when he opened with a lacklustre 74.

"I didn't think it was going to be an option, winning from there," Appleby admitted.

After three days of benign weather, a front swept through overnight, dumping two inches of rain and forcing a four-hour delay.

And then a strong wind made for the most difficult conditions of the week, but Appleby mastered the test.

Collated final totals (USA unless stated, par 73):

271 Stuart Appleby (Aus) 74 64 66 67

272 Jonathan Kaye 68 67 66 71

273 Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 65 68 71, Tiger Woods 68 68 69 68

274 Stewart Cink 68 68 67 71, Vijay Singh (Fij) 66 65 69 74, Adam Scott (Aus) 69 72 68 65

276 David Toms 71 67 70 68, Vaughn Taylor 69 69 68 70

278 Craig Parry (Aus) 67 72 68 71, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 68 67 73 70

279 Woody Austin 69 72 68 70

280 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 67 69 73, Jonathan Byrd 72 70 71 67, Mike Weir (Can) 70 63 71 76

281 Bart Bryant 69 72 69 71

282 John Daly 70 69 70 73, Chad Campbell 69 67 71 75

283 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 72 69 72, Mark Hensby (Aus) 70 73 71 69

Stephen Ames (Tri) 73 72 67 71

285 Andre Stolz (Aus) 73 71 71 70

286 Heath Slocum 69 70 72 75, Joey Sindelar 71 68 71 76, Zach Johnson 72 70 71 73

287 Ryan Palmer 76 68 71 72, Todd Hamilton 72 72 72 71

288 Brent Geiberger 72 73 71 72

289 Steve Flesch 69 73 72 75

290 Fred Funk 74 74 67 75

292 Carlos Franco (Par) 74 71 72 75