Vijay Singh took back the world number one spot from Tiger Woods by coming joint second with Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell in the Bay Hill Invitational in Florida.

American Ryder Cup player Kenny Perry won the event after Singh, having cancelled a three-stroke deficit with four holes to play, double-bogeyed the last after finding water with his approach to the green.

But with Woods down in 23rd spot it is all change at the top of the rankings again only two weeks after Singh's six-month reign was ended.

Perry won by two with a closing 70 for a 12-under-par total of 276.

He had the luxury of being able to play safe to the left side of the green before two-putting for victory on the last and said: "I thank Vijay for giving me the tournament.

"He attacks the pin on just about every hole. He has no fear. That's just the way he plays golf.

"I was stunned when he came up short. Watching his ball, it looked like it was going to fly right next to the hole.

"I'm going, 'That's close, that's close, that's in the water.' I guess it upshot just a little. That was nice, knowing I could play left and three-putt to win."

Singh admitted he was trying to make birdie, saying: "I was trying to win, I just hit the wrong club.

"The wind shifted on me. It was an aggressive shot and if I catch the right wind, I probably would have stiffed it.

"If I had to do it again, I probably would have hit a different club, played safer and seen if Kenny had made a mistake, but that's not the way I play. I play aggressive and I went for the flag."

The Fijian insisted regaining the world number one spot was not much consolation, adding: "Big deal. I lost the tournament.

"I wasn't worried about the ranking. I'm playing well and I'm looking forward to next week, so hopefully I don't screw it up again."

Singh was round in 69, while just a week after Padraig Harrington's first US Tour victory - after a play-off with Singh - McDowell gave his best-ever performance on the circuit thanks to a superb best-of-the-day 66.

And that should lift McDowell into the world's top 50 and put him on course for a debut in the Masters at Augusta next month.

Compatriot Darren Clarke and Sergio Garcia shared eighth, while Ernie Els, winner of back-to-back titles on the European tour prior to the event, was alongside Woods on one under par.

Collated final-round scores (USA unless stated, par 72):

276 Kenny Perry 70 68 68 70

278 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 69 73 70 66, Vijay Singh (Fij) 72 68 69 69

283 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 78 67 68 70

284 Patrick Sheehan 71 71 75 67, Corey Pavin 72 70 71 71, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 70 74 68 72

285 Fred Couples 71 72 70 72, Chad Campbell 76 69 72 68, Charles Howell III 71 68 75 71, KJ Choi (Kor) 70 70 70 75, Bart Bryant 72 73 71 69, Joe Ogilvie 68 74 72 71, Stewart Cink 74 70 70 71, Darren Clarke (NIrl) 76 71 70 68, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 70 73 72, Briny Baird 69 73 70 73, Zach Johnson 73 69 73 70

286 Joey Snyder III 75 71 69 71, Loren Roberts 73 72 69 72, Jimmy Walker 78 67 69 72, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 73 72 70 71

287 Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 77 69 70, D.A. Points 75 73 69 70, Jeff Maggert 72 70 69 76, Duffy Waldorf 73 71 68 75, Fred Funk 73 72 70 72, Charles Warren 71 76 68 72, Tiger Woods 71 70 74 72

288 Joey Sindelar 72 70 69 77, J.L. Lewis 71 74 69 74, Jonathan Kaye 77 71 68 72, Tom Lehman 72 72 70 74, Brian Davis (Eng) 71 74 70 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 76 70 67 75

289 Brian Gay 71 77 69 72, David Howell (Eng) 73 70 70 76, Geoff Ogilvy (Aua) 70 75 70 74, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 74 73 70 72

290 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 75 73 70, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 68 71 80, Nick Dougherty (Eng) 76 71 71 72, Tommy Armour III 73 71 73 73

291 Craig Parry (Aus) 74 72 71 74, Pat Perez 72 70 71 78, Mark Calcavecchia 70 73 71 77, Jerry Kelly 73 69 77 72, Greg Owen (Eng) 70 71 75 75, Jeff Sluman 75 70 73 73

292 Carlos Franco (Par) 74 74 74 70, John Senden (Aus) 74 71 72 75

293 Woody Austin 71 73 71 78, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 70 74 75 74, Frank Lickliter II 75 71 73 74, Lee Westwood (Eng) 74 70 73 76, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 74 72 71 76, Dan Forsman 74 73 74 72

294 Vaughn Taylor 75 73 73 73, Richard Green (Aus) 71 73 73 77, Peter Lonard (Aus) 70 76 78 70, Brett Quigley 75 71 77 71, Todd Hamilton 73 72 70 79

295 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 74 72 70 79, Bo Van Pelt 74 72 74 75, Craig Perks (Nzl) 75 73 76 71, Mike Weir (Can) 71 73 74 77

296 Billy Andrade 74 74 74 74

300 Justin Rose (Eng) 75 73 73 79

302 John Daly 72 75 75 80