The most disrupted US Tour event in nearly a decade finally had a winner on Monday - 24-year-old Australian Adam Scott.

After more torrential overnight rain quickly ruled out any hope of completing even the third round of the Nissan Open in Los Angeles, 36-hole leaders Scott and American Chad Campbell were told to prepare themselves for a sudden death - or, more appropriately, a sink or swim - play-off commencing at 9.30am.

The difference between winning and losing it was an amazing US$345,600 and when the pair went to the 475-yard 18th Campbell, who had hit a shot even on the practice range all weekend, missed a four-foot putt for a bogey five.

So Scott, who had birdied the last hole of his second round to force the shoot-out, collected US$864,000 and moved to a best-ever seventh in the world.

"It was tough for Chad to have two days off and then come out, but a win is a win," said Scott.

The cancellation of the third round meant bitter disappointment for Darren Clarke and Brian Davis, who were lying joint third only a stroke behind, and for Colin Montgomerie, whose second round 64 (his lowest-ever score in America) had left him two shots back in fifth.

All three would have loved another chance to go for a win, in the case of Davis and Montgomerie their first on the US Tour.

The tournament started hitting problems on Friday when it suffered a four-hour delay. Saturday's play was then totally washed out and after a further two-hour hold-up on Sunday morning it was not until 2.30pm that the second round was completed.

Fifteen minutes later the third round began, but it did so under another deluge and was called off for the day only half an hour later. The leaders had not gone back on the course by then.

The last 36-hole event on the circuit was the 1996 Buick Challenge and only once before in a history going back to 1926 had the Los Angeles Open not been decided over 72 holes.

The whole of southern California has been receiving a battering from the weather, though, and Wednesday's start to the Match Play could be affected. The course was closed on Monday, but conditions are expected to improve later in the week.

There was some good and bad news for Clarke, Davis and Montgomerie. The good was that they were still paid full money for their rain-abbreviated week - US$278,400 for the first two and US$182,400 for Montgomerie.

It also counts towards the US money list, but the downside was that they will get only 75 per cent of the world ranking points on offer.

That is of prime importance to Montgomerie in his quest to qualify for the first two majors of the seasons. He slipped to 81st last year, but is back to 62nd now and needs top 50.

His next event is next week's Dubai Desert Classic - that, at least, should not have any rain delays - whereas Clarke goes looking for a repeat of his 2000 Match Play victory and Davis, winner of the US Tour qualifying school in December, moves on to the Chrysler Classic in Tucson starting on Thursday.

Clarke opens against fellow Ulsterman Graeme McDowell on Wednesday. Weather permitting, that is.

Collated final totals in the Nissan Open, Riviera Country Club, Los Angeles, United States

(USA unless stated, par 71, tournament cut to 36 holes because of rain):

(x) denotes amateur

133 Adam Scott (Aus) 67 66, Chad Campbell 68 65 (Scott won play-off at first extra hole. Scott wins US$864,000, Campbell US$518,400)

134 Darren Clarke (Gbr) 66 68, Brian Davis (Gbr) 65 69 (US$278,400 each)

135 Colin Montgomerie (Gbr) 71 64, JL Lewis 70 65 (US$182,400)

136 Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 67, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 69 67, Billy Mayfair 70 66, Bob Tway 68 68, Kevin Sutherland 67 69, Fred Funk 69 67

137 Luke Donald (Gbr) 66 71, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 70 67, Rocco Mediate 70 67, Jose Coceres (Arg) 67 70, Rich Beem 69 68, Tiger Woods 67 70, Lee Janzen 70 67, Bo Van Pelt 70 67, DA Points 69 68

138 Brett Quigley 66 72, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 69 69, Mark Brooks 70 68, Michael Allen 68 70, Jerry Kelly 68 70, Zach Johnson 70 68, Jeff Maggert 70 68

139 JJ Henry 72 67, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 69, Corey Pavin 71 68, Tag Ridings 70 69, Rod Pampling (Aus) 68 71, Brad Faxon 71 68, KJ Choi (Kor) 72 67, Brendan Jones (Aus) 71 68

140 Chris Riley 71 69, Mike Weir (Can) 67 73, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 68 72, Fred Couples 70 70, Justin Leonard 68 72, Duffy Waldorf 70 70, Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 70, Brandt Jobe 69 71, Jeff Sluman 69 71, Kenny Perry 74 66

141 Brian Bateman 71 70, Nick Price (Zim) 70 71, James Driscoll 67 74, Billy Andrade 73 68, Patrick Sheehan 70 71, Brent Geiberger 73 68, John Daly 69 72, Lee Westwood (Gbr) 70 71, Charles Howell 71 70, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 72 69, Craig Barlow 70 71

142 Bob Estes 70 72, Omar Uresti 67 75, Pat Perez 71 71, Justin Rose (Gbr) 74 68, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 73 69, Jay Haas 72 70, Loren Roberts 73 69, Chris DiMarco 70 72, Scott Verplank 73 69, Greg Owen (Gbr) 75 67, Tom Gillis 73 69, Brian Gay 73 69, Steve Elkington (Aus) 68 74, John Elliott 75 67, Jonathan Byrd 71 71, Jim Furyk 71 71, Woody Austin 70 72, Paul Claxton 72 70

The following players missed the cut:

143 Stephen Allan (Aus) 70 73, Carlos Franco (Par) 70 73, Mark O'Meara 71 72, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 72 71, Briny Baird 69 74, John Senden (Aus) 73 70, Arron Oberholser 69 74, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 70 73, Ted Purdy 73 70, Mark Calcavecchia 73 70, Hal Sutton 70 73, Steve Flesch 71 72, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 73 70, Ryudi Imada (Jpn) 68 75, Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 72 71

144 Neal Lancaster 73 71, Ryan Palmer 70 74, Heath Slocum 75 69, Vaughn Taylor 73 71, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 71 73, Jay Williamson 75 69, Skip Kendall 70 74, Hunter Mahan 68 76

145 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 72, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 72 73, Matt Gogel 74 71, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 70 75, Andrew Magee 72 73, John Cook 72 73

146 Tom Pernice 73 73, Jimmy Walker 73 73, Danny Briggs 71 75, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 71 75, Tom Kite 74 72, Scott McCarron 73 73, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 74 72, David Howell (Gbr) 72 74, Chris Starkjohann 68 78

147 Joe Durant 75 72, Justin Bolli 76 71, Stephen Ames (Can) 72 75, Charles Warren 77 70, Graeme McDowell (Gbr) 74 73, Tom Byrum 73 74, John Rollins 73 74, Cameron Beckman 72 75

148 Todd Fischer 72 76, Kirk Triplett 74 74, Peter Lonard (Aus) 78 70, Paul Casey (Gbr) 74 74, Kevin Stadler 76 72, Tim Petrovic 77 71

149 Steve Lowery 75 74, Tommy Armour 74 75, Kevin Na (Kor) 75 74

150 John Ray Leary 72 78, David Duval 74 76, Ian Poulter (Gbr) 74 76

151 Len Mattiace 77 74

152 Hank Kuehne 75 77

153 (x) Will Dodson 77 76

154 Ben Curtis 79 75

155 David Podas 78 77

156 Paul Holtby 77 79

157 Thomas Levet (Fra) 76 81

160 Brian Nosler 82 78

Withdrew: John Riegger, Jonathan Kaye