Vaughn Taylor posted a tournament-record 21-under 267 and repeated as champion on Sunday in the $3million Reno-Tahoe Open.

The first defending champion to return to the lower-tier PGA Tour event, Taylor began the day with a commanding six-shot lead over Todd Fischer. He played it safe, carding a par 72 over the Montreux Golf and Country Club course.

"I had never had a big lead like that in a big tournament," Taylor said. "I didn't know how to handle it. I was hoping to get off to a good start and never look back and not have to worry about it. Hopefully I learned a lot today and next time, hopefully I will handle it a little better."

Taylor extended his streak of bogey-free holes to 32 before carding a five at the par-four sixth.

"I pulled it, made a bad swing," he said. "I had a difficult bunker shot. To get it close, I had to hit a really good bunker shot. I got a little cute with it and left it in the bunker."

But Taylor recovered with a birdie on the ninth and remained steady coming in.

"On number nine, that three-iron I hit from the fairway was the best shot I hit all day," said Taylor, one of four rookies to earn 1 million last season. "It was right where I was aiming. I hit it dead-solid perfect. It was a big two-putt. When I was walking to the 10th tee, I felt like I was coming up again."

Taylor, who led wire to wire, finished 11 strokes better than his winning score last year, when he battled winds of 40 miles per hour to a final-round three-over 75 and won on the first hole of a four-way playoff.

"I watched Justin Leonard that last day at the FedEx St Jude Classic and thought, 'Wouldn't it be awesome to do that?"' Taylor said. "I can't believe I actually did it. It's crazy how things turn out sometimes."

The previous event record of 17-under 271 was set by John Cook in 2001 and matched by Chris Riley and Jonathan Kaye in 2002 and Kirk Triplett in 2003.

The previous five champions here have qualified for the NEC Invitational and opted not to defend their title.

"I'm really proud to have won here twice," Taylor said. "I think it is really cool. Looking at long-term goals, I hope I am not back next year. But if I am, I'm going to come in and hopefully win another."

Kaye, who entered Sunday eight strokes off the pace, signed for a five-under 67 and finished at 270, one shot better than Fischer, who carded a 70.

JJ Henry, JP Hayes and Aaron Baddeley tied for fourth at 273. Bill Glasson, who fired a course-record 62 on Friday, finished tied for 18th at 279.

Collated fourth round scores and totals in the USPGA Tour Reno-Tahoe Open, Montreux G & CC, Reno, United States of America

(USA unless stated, par 72):

267 Vaughn Taylor 64 67 64 72

270 Jonathan Kaye 69 66 68 67

271 Todd Fischer 65 67 69 70

273 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 67 70 66 70, J.P. Hayes 71 66 67 69, J J Henry 70 67 70 66

274 Tag Ridings 69 69 69 67

275 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 65 70 68 72

276 Spike McRoy 69 69 70 68, Dean Wilson 71 69 66 70, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 67 68 67 74, Steve Allan (Aus) 70 67 70 69

277 Duffy Waldorf 67 70 70 70, Doug Barron 73 70 69 65

278 Justin Rose (Eng) 72 70 65 71, Darron Stiles 72 68 70 68, Craig Barlow 68 68 71 71

279 Rich Beem 74 65 72 68, DJ Brigman 76 67 71 65, Bill Glasson 72 62 73 72, Harrison Frazar 74 66 67 72, Kevin Na (Kor) 69 70 71 69

280 Joe Ogilvie 69 70 71 70, David Peoples 71 70 72 67, Kevin Sutherland 70 69 71 70, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 70 72 70 68

281 Olin Browne 71 71 71 68, Tim Herron 71 72 73 65, Spencer Levin 70 71 72 68, Neal Lancaster 72 66 70 73, D.A. Points 79 63 69 70, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 71 67 69 74, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 75 67 70 69, Jose Coceres (Arg) 71 70 71 69, Michael Allen 70 71 71 69

282 John Huston 70 69 69 74, Hunter Haas 73 68 67 74, Kent Jones 72 69 67 74, Nick Watney 74 70 67 71, Matt Kuchar 69 70 71 72

283 Patrick Sheehan 76 67 71 69, Kevin Stadler 76 67 73 67, Brian Gay 70 73 67 73, Scott McCarron 72 71 68 72, John Cook 72 70 71 70, Briny Baird 74 68 71 70, Mario Tiziani 71 70 72 70, Mark O'Meara 74 69 70 70

284 Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 69 71 71 73, Guy Boros 66 72 72 74, Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 73 69 66 76, Ben Curtis 69 71 70 74

285 Rich Barcelo 75 65 73 72, Tjaart Van der Walt (Rsa) 74 68 74 69, Garrett Willis 71 71 69 74, Roland Thatcher 72 71 70 72

286 Dan Briggs 69 72 74 71, Todd Hamilton 68 73 71 74

287 Christopher Anderson 71 70 73 73, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 69 71 77 70, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 74 70 69 74, Tommy Armour III 72 71 70 74, Rocco Mediate 75 68 71 73, Danny Ellis 74 67 80 66

288 Blaine McCallister 73 69 74 72, Michael Long (Nzl) 73 71 71 73

289 Glen Day 74 70 70 75, Scott Gutschewski 71 71 73 74

290 Charlie Wi (Kor) 74 70 71 75

291 Bob Burns 72 72 69 78

293 Hank Kuehne 74 68 76 75

296 Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 73 70 77 76