Adam Scott carded his second straight bogey-free round with a six-under-par 66 on Sunday to win the Houston Open by three strokes.

Tied with fellow Australian Stuart Appleby for the lead through 10 holes, Scott took charge with two birdies on his final eight holes.

Meanwhile, Appleby bogeyed three of his final five.

With a 17-under 271, the 26-year-old Scott won his fifth career PGA title and collected GBP503, 405

It was his first victory since last November's Tour Championship.

Scott is the seventh Australian to win here, joining Appleby, Bruce Devlin, Bruce Crampton, David Graham and Robert Allenby.

American Bubba Watson, who began the fourth round with a three-stroke lead, shot a par 72 and tied Appleby for second.

Tommy Armour III shot 66 and finished fourth, four shots back.

"It was a crazy finish, actually, but I thought I was feeling pretty good going to the 17th and 18th tee," Scott said.

"I kind of got a gift from Stuart. I thought a couple pars would do it for sure, and the last couple holes being pretty tough."

"We're good friends. All Australians are good friends," Appleby said.

"I met Adam when he was a star at 15, 16 and absolutely a world beater. I didn't know who he was until years later. All Australians are pretty good buddies. We have to travel a long way to get here. This is the ultimate stage to play on."

Playing alongside Appleby, Scott led by just one stroke entering the final hole but secured the title by saving par with a 50-foot birdie putt.

"I was actually trying to lag it down there," Scott said.

"It went right in the middle in the end. So, exciting way to finish, I guess. But I'm glad it's over."

Scott will try to ride his momentum into next week's Masters. Last year, Phil Mickelson won at the Bell South title the week before the Masters before taking the Green Jacket.

"You kind of - you can't really assume those kind of things. I'm sure Phil felt confident going to Augusta last year," Scott said.

"I think he romped it in Atlanta by 13 or something. I'm sure he's feeling pretty confident with himself.

"I feel great about my game, but I'm certainly not predicting a win at Augusta

next week, although I'm feeling better now going into it than I did at the start of the week."

Collated final scores and totals (USA unless stated, par 72) (x) denotes amateur:

271 Adam Scott (Aus) 69 71 65 66

274 Bubba Watson 71 67 64 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 66 72 67 69

275 Tommy Armour III 68 71 70 66

276 Hunter Mahan 68 71 68 69, Anthony Kim 70 73 66 67, Robert Garrigus 69 72 70 65

277 D.J. Trahan 71 72 66 68

278 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 71 70 67 70, Steve Stricker 68 73 68 69, Bob Estes 67 71 69 71, Arron Oberholser 70 71 69 68, Johnson Wagner 66 75 64 73

279 Jeff Maggert 67 71 67 74, Tom Byrum 71 68 71 69, Paul Stankowski 69 71 65 74, Sean O'Hair 70 71 69 69, Bo Van Pelt 71 70 68 70

280 KJ Choi (Kor) 70 70 71 69, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 70 71 69 70, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 74 70 69 67, Jonathan Byrd 69 72 68 71, Jason Gore 70 68 70 72

281 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 68 72 68 73, Ryan Armour 71 70 74 66, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 71 72 66 72

282 Vaughn Taylor 67 74 68 73, John Cook 72 70 68 72, Jeff Gove 76 69 65 72, David Toms 73 71 68 70

283 Matt Hendrix 67 78 69 69, Charley Hoffman 73 69 67 74, John Senden (Aus) 71 72 72 68

284 Dicky Pride 74 69 72 69, Craig Kanada 71 73 69 71

285 Chris Riley 69 75 72 69, Justin Leonard 67 73 73 72, Marco Dawson 71 72 69 73, Gavin Coles (Aus) 74 69 73 69, Briny Baird 73 70 71 71, John Mallinger 69 72 69 75

286 Nick Watney 74 71 71 70, George McNeill 71 71 72 72, DJ Brigman 70 68 72 76, Woody Austin 69 75 71 71, Craig Bowden 69 74 70 73, Chris Couch 71 74 72 69, Alex Cejka (Ger) 72 69 72 73

287 Mathew Goggin (Aus) 74 70 75 68, Anders Hansen (Den) 74 69 68 76, Steve Flesch 74 70 70 73, David Howell (Eng) 70 73 71 73, Kyle Reifers 67 75 71 74, Ken Duke 69 73 72 73, Parker McLachlin 74 70 73 70

288 Joey Sindelar 70 71 75 72, Billy Mayfair 73 71 72 72, Michael Putnam 72 72 74 70, Kevin Sutherland 66 75 71 76, Greg Owen (Eng) 74 70 73 71, Lee Westwood (Eng) 68 75 72 73

289 Dudley Hart 71 71 74 73, Shaun Micheel 71 74 72 72, Jim Rutledge (Can) 72 73 73 71, Tim Clark (Rsa) 70 70 77 72

290 Charles Warren 73 69 74 74, Blaine McCallister 72 72 74 72, Rich Barcelo 73 71 73 73

291 Stephen Marino 73 70 75 73, David Branshaw 70 71 74 76, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 71 70 77 73, Wes Short jr. 69 74 69 79, Bob Tway 72 72 73 74

292 Michael Boyd 75 70 76 71, Steve Allan (Aus) 73 72 70 77

295 John Merrick 72 73 74 76, Brian Gay 72 73 77 73

296 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 73 72 72 79