HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C., April 20 (UPI) -- Davis Love III holed a 50-foot chip shot on the final hole of regulation Sunday and then survived a bizarre four-hole playoff with Woody Austin to win The Heritage for the fifth time in his career.
Love captured his third PGA Tour event of the season and jumped into the top spot on the circuit's money list.
Eight players shared the lead at one point during a wild final round and when Hal Sutton bogeyed the final hole to finish at 12-under 272, it appeared Austin might win the second tournament of his career and his first in eight years.
Austin stood at 13-under as he completed play at the par-3 17th while Love, who was 12-under, was missing the green to the right at No. 18. But Love's long chip shot ran into the hole like a putt for a birdie, to leave him at 271. When Austin parred the final hole, he joined Love in the playoff.
Austin seemingly threw away a chance at victory on the first hole of sudden death, the par-4 18th, when he hooked his tee shot into the tall grass that is part of a marshland that runs down the entire left side of the fairway.
But when Love missed the green with his second shot and could not get it up and down, Austin was able to scramble for a bogey that prolonged the playoff -- which resumed at the par-4 16th.
Austin then missed two great chances to win, failing to hole a seven-foot birdie attempt at the 16th and missing a three-footer for par at the par-3 17th. Love finally ended the tournament by hitting his second shot at the 18th to within three feet and making it after Austin had failed to connect on a 15-footer.
Love became the third player this year to capture three tournaments -- joining Tiger Woods and newly-crowned Masters champion Mike Weir. With Ernie Els having won twice, those four players have combined to claim 11 of the 16 tournaments played this year.
Els was one of the many players who had a chance to win Sunday, but he lost four shots to par over the final four holes to wind up three shots out of the playoff.
David Gossett, Geoff Ogilvy, Chris Riley and Sutton shared third place at 12-under 272 while those at 273 included Matt Gogel, Tom Pernice and Steve Flesch.
Love won $810,000 Sunday, which boosted his total for the year to $3,685,645. That pushed him past Weir into the No. 1 on the money list and shoved Woods down to third, more than a half million dollars behind Love.
