17 February 2004	Tuesday	25 Zilhaj 1424

SAN DIEGO, Feb 16: John Daly birdied the first playoff hole on Sunday to edge out Chris Riley and Britain's Luke Donald at the $4.5 million Buick Invitational and seize his first PGA Tour victory for nearly nine years.

All three competitors finished 72 holes on 10-under-par 278. Riley (69) and Donald (69) birdied the 18th in regulation play while Daly could only muster a par as he carded a closing three-over 75.

The trio then played the 18th again in the playoff and Daly came out on top when he splashed out to six inches from a greenside bunker and tapped in for a birdie four. Donald missed his birdie putt while Riley's attempt at a four lipped out.

Daly earned $864,000 for his first PGA Tour win since the 1995 British Open. It is since that year golf's oldest major championship has been regarded as a PGA Tour event.

Phil Mickelson, Bo Van Pelt, Duffy Waldorf, Sweden's Jesper Parnevik, Shigeki Maruyama of Japan and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn finished in a tie for fourth place on 279.

World number one and defending champion Tiger Woods was in a group of six players back on 280.

Final round scores

278 John Daly 69 66 68 75, Chris Riley 67 71 71 69, Luke Donald (Britain) 69 69 71 69

(Daly won on first hole of playoff)

279 Phil Mickelson 74 69 69 67, Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 70 69 72 68, Bo Van Pelt 68 68 73 70, Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 72 67 71 69, Duffy Waldorf 68 70 71 70, Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 65 73 70 71

280 Tiger Woods 71 68 72 69, Billy Mayfair 72 65 72 71, Jay Haas 70 69 70 71, Brandt Jobe 69 69 70 72, Tom Pernice Jr 71 68 69 72, Stewart Cink 70 63 71 76

281 Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 70 68 74 69, Craig Barlow 66 73 71 71, Brett Quigley 70 68 72 71, Tom Lehman 66 73 70 72, Steve Flesch 67 68 72 74

Other international scores

282 Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 69 73 71 69, Stephen Leaney (Australia) 72 65 71 74

284 KJ Choi (South Korea) 68 73 74 69

285 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 67 71 73 74, Arjun Atwal (India) 73 70 75 67

287 Stuart Appleby (Australia) 73 70 70 74, Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 68 74 72 73, Robert Allenby (Australia) 74 67 70 76, Grant Waite (New Zealand) 73 69 74 71

288 Mathias Gronberg (Sweden) 66 73 74 75, Brenden Pappas (South Africa) 69 70 72 77, Stephen Ames (Trinidad & Tobago) 73 69 77 69

289 Bernhard Langer (Germany) 71 70 72 76, Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan) 69 72 74 74

290 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 76 67 73 74

291 Rod Pampling (Australia) 70 70 75 76, Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 67 74 79 71

295 Keiichiro Fukabori (Japan) 70 67 83 75. -Reuters