Woody Austin shot a final-round eight-under-par 62 and breezed to a five-shot victory on Sunday at the St Jude Championship.

In winning for the first time since the Buick Championship on August 29, 2004, Austin used a par-birdie-eagle start to overcome third-round leader Adam Scott.

"I got off to an awesome start when I holed that wedge on Number three for the eagle and just kind of jump-started," Austin said.

"I controlled the ball so well with the irons. Every shot was solid, every shot was where I was trying to hit it."

After starting the tournament with a two-over 72 in his opening, Austin finished at 13-under 267.

It was his third career victory and marked the lowest final round by a tournament champion this year.

"I never thought I would have that (kind of lead) because my three or four wins were all playoffs, so for me to actually be able to finish a tournament off, knowing I won instead of never knowing, I didn't know if I would ever get there," Austin said.

"I'd have to say today's finish was definitely the best I've ever had."

Austin finished his final round with six birdies and an eagle, going the final 49 holes without making a bogey.

Had he managed to birdie the 18th hole, Austin would have posted an astonishing 29 on the back nine.

"I feel like I played better once before when I shot 57 at home," Austin said.

"Shot 13-under on my home course when I was in college so ... but obviously that's nothing to do with it under these circumstances and this position, so I'm ecstatic."

Brian Davis shot a four-under 66 and finished alone in second place

at 272. He was one shot ahead of David Toms (69) in third place and two ahead of Brian Gay (70), who ended up in sole possession of fourth.

"Woody was playing behind me. I kept hearing cheers so I knew somebody was doing so good," Davis said.

"He birdied the second and pitched in for eagle on the third behind us. I knew someone was going to make a charge, I just didn't expect it was to be that much."

Scott carried a three-shot lead into the final round and was tied with Austin at 10-under after making consecutive birdies at the 11th and 12th hole.

But the Australian, who is ranked fourth in the world, bogeyed the 13th hole and suffered a devastating triple-bogey at the par-three 14th hole when he hit his tee shot into the water to fall four shots behind Austin.

"That was the end of my week. I'm not going to be hard on myself," Scott said.

"I should think about next week and know that I'm playing good."

Scott was six-over for the last six holes en route to a closing 75 that dropped him nine shots behind Austin at 4-under 276.

"I played a lot of good holes this week, 70 good holes and a couple bad ones," Scott said.

"You know, at least I can learn, you know, got to keep focused on every single shot."

Collated final scores (US unless stated, par 70):

267 Woody Austin 72 66 67 62

272 Brian Davis 70 68 68 66

273 David Toms 70 68 66 69

274 Brian Gay 68 66 70 70

275 Dean Wilson 70 71 66 68, Brandt Snedeker 70 68 69 68

276 Adam Scott (Aus) 67 66 68 75

277 Will MacKenzie 71 69 67 70, Scott Verplank 69 69 70 69

278 Jeff Overton 71 71 70 66, Vance Veazey 73 71 67 67

279 Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 69 70 70, Duffy Waldorf 69 69 71 70, Shaun Micheel 72 69 69 69, Steve Lowery 71 69 68 71, Heath Slocum 72 69 71 67

280 Hunter Mahan 74 68 70 68, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 67 70 70 73, Tim Herron 73 68 71 68, Troy Matteson 75 68 70 67

281 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 72 68 71, Eric Axley 71 69 70 71, Scott Gutschewski 72 71 70 68, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 74 70 69 68

282 Joe Durant 73 66 68 75, Anthony Kim 72 73 69 68, Andrew Buckle (Aus) 70 66 75 71, Joe Ogilvie 72 68 74 68, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 74 68 66 74

283 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 74 69 72, Marco Dawson 77 65 70 71, Cliff Kresge 72 67 70 74, Bob Tway 72 68 72 71, Billy Andrade 74 68 70 71, Vijay Singh (Fij) 72 69 71 71

Jason Schultz 72 73 68 70, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 68 70 74, D.J. Trahan 75 67 70 71

284 Craig Lile (Rsa) 74 68 72 70, Mike Weir (Can) 75 68 71 70, Jeff Gove 73 69 72 70, Michael Putnam 73 67 71 73, Ryan Armour 72 71 72 69, Darron Stiles 70 73 72 69

Gavin Coles (Aus) 69 72 72 71

285 Vaughn Taylor 74 71 70 70, Steve Flesch 74 69 72 70, Matt Kuchar 75 69 71 70, Fred Funk 73 70 71 71, Steve Elkington (Aus) 71 69 72 73, Bob May 71 72 71 71, Justin Leonard 70 74 68 73, Sean O'Hair 72 73 68 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 74 69 69 73

286 Charles Warren 71 74 71 70, Bart Bryant 75 68 69 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 74 70 72 70, Tim Petrovic 74 68 70 74, DJ Brigman 74 69 69 74, Ken Duke 76 66 70 74, Glen Day 73 72 70 71, Jim Gallagher Jnr 74 69 71 72

287 Chris Stroud 72 71 74 70, Paul Goydos 78 67 71 71, Loren Roberts 74 69 73 71, Briny Baird 71 72 71 73

288 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 73 66 76 73

289 Parker McLachlin 73 70 72 74, Bob Heintz 73 70 74 72

290 Chris DiMarco 73 72 77 68, Steve Allan (Aus) 75 69 71 75

291 Nathan Green (Aus) 75 70 73 73, B.J Staten 72 71 77 71

292 Michael Boyd 73 70 75 74

293 Charlie Wi (Kor) 73 71 77 72, John Mallinger 72 73 79 69

294 Robert Gamez 76 69 75 74, Brian Bateman 74 70 73 77

298 John Daly 70 74 75 79

302 Rich Barcelo 75 70 79 78