Two birdies in the final three holes handed Nick Watney victory in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines on Sunday.

Overnight leader John Rollins had retained his three shot overnight advantage with five holes to play but he was unable to resist the finishing burst of Watney, who claimed his second PGA title.

The Californian began the day five off the lead but the door was left open by Rollins and Camilo Villegas, who both started their final rounds poorly.

The former dropped shots at both the opening holes, three putting the first from close range, while the latter was two over par through the first seven.

Meanwhile, Watney was making his move with birdies at the sixth and eighth either side of a dropped shot.

But it was Rollins' eagle at the par-five 13th, when he holed a twisting 25-footer, that put him in the driving seat, restoring his three-shot cushion.

But he immediately gave one back at the next and when he failed to get up and down at the 16th he was joined in the lead by Watney, who canned a curling putt from long range after he had earlier birdied the 13th.

Villegas still had a chance one shot back but he blew his opportunity by taking three from the edge at the penultimate hole, leaving the stage set for a shootout down the long 18th.

And whereas Watney safely found the putting surface with his rescue club, Rollins pulled his approach into a greenside bunker, and when he failed to get up and down Watney was left with a three-footer for the title, and he made no mistake.

Rollins carded a two-over 74 but took second on his own after Villegas' eagle putt on the last stayed on the lip - the Colombian finishing in a tie for third with Lucas Glover, who had earlier posted a 68.

There were bumper paydays for Australian Matt Jones, who fired a round-of-the-day 64 to move up from 36th to fifth, Bubba Watson, who fired a 67 to finish in a tie for sixth, and Hunter Mahan, whose 66 earned him a tie for 11th.

"I knew with this golf course and the conditions it was going to play tough," Watney said.

"John and Camilo were both playing well all week, so I really just tried to be patient and give myself as many opportunities as I could and luckily I was able to make some putts, and it worked out.

"Winning a golf tournament is never easy.

"I knew we had some good holes to play, and I definitely didn't want to give up. I just tried to keep my head down and give myself chances and I was able to make some putts."

Rollins was philosophical following the tough back nine which eventually cost him the title.

"It was tough out there today. Nick played great, hit the ball well all day, made some good putts, and my hat's off to him," said Rollins.

"A four-under is a great score out there today. I just seemed to kind of struggle to get anything going and got off to a bad start bogeying one and two, kind of gave the guys a little bit of life.

"I started to right the ship kind of halfway through the round and then the eagle putt on 13, when that fell for me, that was a big boost there to get a three-shot lead back.

"But just unfortunately I didn't drive it well enough today to keep the ball in the fairway to sort of attack any of the flags or anything else. I was always kind of playing defence."

Collated fourth and final round scores from the US PGA Tour's Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines South Course in San Diego, California (USA unless stated, par 72):

277 Nick Watney 69 69 71 68

278 John Rollins 70 64 70 74

279 Lucas Glover 69 73 69 68, Camilo Villegas (Col) 63 70 74 72

281 Matthew Jones (Aus) 70 73 74 64

282 Mathew Goggin (Aus) 69 70 73 70

283 Charley Hoffman 71 66 74 72, Ben Crane 69 74 70 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 70 69 71 73, Bubba Watson 71 68 77 67

284 Hunter Mahan 74 70 74 66, Charles Warren 74 69 68 73, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 66 76 70 72, Jeff Klauk 71 73 69 71, J J Henry 70 71 71 72, Bill Haas 72 70 72 70

285 Paul Goydos 72 66 72 75, Nicholas Thompson 75 70 70 70

286 Dustin Johnson 74 71 72 69, Dean Wilson 71 73 71 71, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 70 72 75 69, Harrison Frazar 69 70 75 72, Webb Simpson 72 73 71 70

287 Scott Sterling 69 72 75 71, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 71 74 74 68

288 Jonathan Kaye 70 73 73 72, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 71 73 73, Robert Garrigus 68 74 73 73, Tag Ridings 71 72 77 68, Ted Purdy 74 71 70 73, Jason Dufner 70 70 75 73, J.B. Holmes 73 70 71 74, Marc Leishman (Aus) 74 68 72 74, Tommy Gainey 77 69 73 69

289 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 72 74 73 70, George McNeill 71 70 71 77, Aron Price (Aus) 72 72 73 72, Davis Love III 66 77 74 72, Lee Janzen 74 72 70 73, Kevin Sutherland 77 68 74 70, Jason Day (Aus) 69 76 70 74

290 Phil Mickelson 70 72 73 75, Nathan Green (Aus) 70 72 72 76, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 71 74 70 75, David Mathis 75 71 74 70, Tom Pernice Jnr. 75 68 76 71, Brandt Snedeker 75 68 73 74, Charles Howell III 72 71 77 70, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 71 74 72 73

291 John Senden (Aus) 76 70 73 72, Ben Curtis 76 66 73 76, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 77 69 74 71

292 Ricky Barnes 69 73 75 75, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 72 74 74 72, Bart Bryant 73 69 77 73, Glen Day 72 74 73 73

293 Y. E Yang (Kor) 77 69 73 74, Pat Perez 73 73 73 74, James Driscoll 73 73 74 73, Rick Price 72 73 75 73, James Nitties (Aus) 79 67 73 74, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 68 74 78 73

294 Kent Jones 70 71 77 76, John Huston 71 71 79 73, Matt Bettencourt 74 72 75 73, Jason Gore 70 69 80 75, Fred Couples 74 70 74 76

296 D.A. Points 70 72 79 75, Parker McLachlin 74 71 72 79

297 Gregor Main 70 75 72 80

301 Johnson Wagner 76 70 75 80