POTOMAC (MD), June 10: South African Rory Sabbatini shot a three-under-par 68 to win the rain-delayed Capital Open on Monday but only after his nearest challenger Duffy Waldorf was penalised two strokes for a rule violation.

Sabbatini finished on 14-under par 270 to earn $810,000 for his second PGA tour victory following his success in the 2000 Air Canada championship.

American trio Waldorf, Joe Durant and Fred Funk shared second place on 274, four shots off the pace.

Waldorf originally carded a 67 to finish on his own in second place, two behind Sabbatini.

However, while playing the 16th he discovered he was to be penalised for a violation on the 12th.

As he prepared to hit his second shot from the 12th fairway he tamped down an irregularity in the turf and rules officials determined that the improved ground was within a reasonable area of his line.

Germany’s Bernhard Langer and American J.L. Lewis shared fifth place on 275.

Sweden’s Niclas Fasth, trailing Sabbatini by a shot when the round began, self-destructed at the end of the front nine when he double-bogeyed the par-four eighth and triple-bogeyed the par-three ninth to slip for a tie for seventh with Davis Love and Tom Gillis.

Sabbatini, 27 was three clear of Waldorf at the start of the day but that had dwindled to two after he played the front nine at the TPC at Avenel in one-under and Waldorf in two-under.

Sabbatini could not shake Waldorf but neither could the American draw closer than two shots.

The players matched eagles on the par-five 13th, with Sabbatini chipping in, and then birdies on the 15th.

The dramatic eagle chip-in at the 13th from a bad lie in the rough appeared to be just the tonic Sabbatini needed to continue playing aggressively.

The drama took on a different form on the 16th, however.

Waldorf was informed that officials were reviewing the incident at the 12th before he hit his second shot from the fairway at the 16th. His approach sailed long and came to rest near a drainage grate.

He bogeyed from there while Sabbatini birdied. “I was kind of shook up, because I had just played some really good holes,” Waldorf said.

Waldorf said he was unhappy with the officials’ ruling. “I argued that I thought it was a subjective call...the rule says a reasonable distance from your line of play,” he said.

PGA Tour rules official Mark Russell said that he did not believe Waldorf intentionally broke the rule.

It cost him $150,000 — the difference between finishing solo second and being tied with two — and maybe even more as his chance of winning was clearly affected when he heard about it.

Final round scores:

270 Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 68 66 68 68

274 Duffy Waldorf 71 68 66 69, Joe Durant 69 70 69 66, Fred Funk 70 70 66 68

275 Bernhard Langer (Germany) 70 68 69 68, J.L. Lewis 71 67 68 69

276 Davis Love III 70 71 68 67, Tom Gillis 68 68 70 70, Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 68 68 67 73

277 Scott Laycock (Australia) 71 67 70 69, Todd Fischer 73 68 67 69, Chris DiMarco 71 68 67 71

278 Cliff Kresge 70 69 70 69, Patrick Sheehan 68 69 71 70, Marco Dawson 72 68 67 71, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 70 70 66 72

279 Robert Gamez 66 74 75 64, Hal Sutton 68 69 70 72, Rich Beem 67 70 69 73

280 Dan Forsman 72 72 67 69, Brett Quigley 74 67 70 69.