En route to his first win since his 1990 rookie campaign, Robert Gamez birdied his first three holes and never looked back, posting a three-shot victory at the Valero Texas Open.

It had been over 15 years since Gamez won the Bay Hill Invitational in 1990, but he did not play the Resort Course at LaCantera Golf Club like someone desperate for a win. He carded six birdies without a bogey on his way to a six-under-par 64 and winning total of 18-under 262.

The span between Gamez's victories is a PGA Tour record.

"I was ready for it and started really quick," Gamez said. "I hit it good all day and it's a great feeling."

Gamez, who broke a winless drought of 394 events, started the day a shot off the lead but carded birdies on his first three holes to take control. He added birdies on the 11th, 13th and 14th.

After a tap-in par at the 18th, he could celebrate winning £355,000 and a two-year tour exemption.

Olin Browne made a move up the leaderboard with a six-under 64 to finish alone in second at 15-under 265. Mark Wilson (68) and Woody Austin (69) tied for third at 266.

David Duval, once the number one golfer in the world, made his first cut of the season and finished tied for 60th at one over after a final-round 74. Duval withdrew from his first event in January and had missed 16 consecutive cuts before this week.

Collated final-round scores (USA unless stated, par 70):

262 Robert Gamez 62 68 68 64

265 Olin Browne 65 65 71 64

266 Woody Austin 63 67 67 69, Mark Wilson 65 67 66 68

267 Bob Heintz 65 65 69 68, J J Henry 66 67 66 68

268 Dean Wilson 66 62 70 70

269 Jay Delsing 67 71 68 63, Steve Lowery 69 66 66 68, Jeff Maggert 63 66 70 70, John Senden (Aus) 63 66 70 70, Harrison Frazar 65 69 69 66

270 Heath Slocum 73 64 68 65, Bart Bryant 65 69 70 66

271 Marco Dawson 68 67 69 67, Joe Ogilvie 69 66 68 68, Bob Estes 71 66 68 66, Paul Claxton 67 69 66 69

272 Brian Gay 70 66 69 67, Bob Tway 69 68 69 66, Alex Cejka (Ger) 66 67 68 71, Chad Campbell 74 65 65 68, Scott Gutschewski 70 68 66 68

273 David Hearn (Can) 64 69 72 68, Michael Putnam 71 67 68 67

274 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 65 70 69 70, J.L. Lewis 70 69 66 69, Jason Bohn 66 72 68 68, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 69 70 70 65, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 65 72 70 67, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 68 71 68 67, Tommy Armour III 72 65 71 66

275 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 72 67 65 71, Darron Stiles 68 71 65 71, Gavin Coles (Aus) 66 70 70 69, Jose Coceres (Arg) 66 70 68 71, Brad Lardon 65 71 68 71, Rocco Mediate 68 69 69 69

276 John E Morgan (Eng) 65 69 72 70, Vaughn Taylor 69 69 71 67, Omar Uresti 67 72 71 66, Larry Mize 65 74 71 66

277 Corey Pavin 71 68 70 68, Tag Ridings 66 68 76 67, Charles Howell III 68 71 68 70, Dan Forsman 70 66 72 69, Cameron Beckman 67 72 70 68

278 Ted Purdy 64 69 71 74, Rich Beem 68 66 72 72, Mike Standly 67 72 72 67, Briny Baird 67 70 74 67, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 69 69 68 72

279 Ryan Moore 72 67 72 68, Tom Byrum 69 69 70 71, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 66 70 74 69, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 66 73 71 69

280 Phillip Price (Wal) 64 72 73 71, Nick Watney 64 70 80 66, Lee Janzen 68 70 73 69

281 Matt Davidson 70 68 71 72, David Duval 69 68 70 74, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 69 73 69

282 Akio Sadakata (Jpn) 70 68 74 70, Notah Begay III 68 71 71 72, Chris Riley 69 69 74 70, Bo Van Pelt 68 70 72 72, John Elliott 70 68 75 69, Jeff Brehaut 69 69 72 72

283 David Lundstrom 67 72 69 75, Tripp Isenhour 71 68 73 71, Wes Short jr. 69 70 75 69

284 Brendan Jones (Aus) 65 74 73 72

286 Will MacKenzie 69 69 74 74

287 Hal Sutton 71 68 82 66