Australian Jason Day has finished fourth at the Crowne Plaza Invitational after a final-round 69 saw him finish one stroke away from turning a three-way playoff between eventual winner Steve Stricker, Steve Marino and Tim Clark into a battle of four. Day entered the final round in equal second spot but could only manage a one-under to finish the tournament 16 under the card. Stricker ended up taking the title at Colonial on the second extra hole. The American came up with a birdie at the crucial moment to pip Marino and Clark, who led by two shots with five holes of his final round to play. The South African had gone into the fourth round with a two-shot lead and looked set for his first PGA Tour victory. But, after bogeying the 14th, he then dropped a shot at the last for a level-par 70. That put him level with Stricker and Marino, who both shot 68s, at 17-under. Clark should still have won at the first extra hole but he missed a short putt and saw his luck take a turn for the worse at the second when his approach hit the flag and rolled away, and he missed his birdie chance to open the door for Stricker. It is the seventh time Clark has finished as a runner-up on the PGA Tour, and the second time in as many years at the Texas tournament. Meanwhile, new world No.3 Paul Casey followed up his BMW PGA Championship triumph with a fifth-placed finish. The Englishman birdied his first three holes on the way to a four-under-par 66 – his third of the tournament – and a final score of 15-under. Woody Austin and Vijay Singh tied for sixth a further shot back while England&aposs Ian Poulter shot a 68 to finish on 12-under. John Senden was the next-best Australian in a share of 18th spot on nine-under while Nick O&aposHern finished a shot further back on eight-under. Elsewhere, Christian Cevaer, 449th in the world and without a top-30 finish in his last 15 tournaments, overcame a star-studded field and one of the toughest holes in golf to be the shock winner of the European Open. After an amazing weekend which saw no fewer than 45 changes of the lead, the 39-year-old, whose only previous Tour victory was the 2004 Spanish Open, beat England&aposs Steve Webster, Scot Gary Orr and Spaniard Alvaro Quiros by a shot. Australian Marcus Fraser completed a consistent tournament with a closing 73 to finish in a tie for eighth place at four-under. Compatriot Brett Rumford carded a 74 to end a disappointing four days. Cevaer&aposs winning total of 281, seven-under-par, was 13 strokes more than Ross Fisher took on the same London Club course last year – and his 74 was the highest last round by a winner all season. But while Webster and Quiros both became more victims of the 471-yard last when tied for the lead – both carved their drives into the crowd, with Quiros hitting spectators with his first and second shots – Cevaer kept his nerve. World No.4 Sergio Garcia climbed from 47th to 13th with a closing 68, but was never in the hunt after going in the water on the 18th in the second and third rounds. PGA Tour, Final Round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational, Fort Worth, Texas -17: Steve Striker 63 63 69 68 (P), Tim Clark 63 64 66 70, Steve Marino 66 67 62 68 -16: Jason Day (Australia) 65 65 65 69 -15: Paul Casey 66 67 66 66 -14: Woody Austin 63 68 67 68, Vijay Singh 64 64 69 69 -12: Ian Poulter 66 69 65 68 -11: Jim Furyk 68 69 67 65, Zach Johnson 69 67 64 69, Kevin Na 66 68 66 69, Kevin Sutherland 66 67 68 68 -10: Luke Donald 68 65 67 70, Tom Lehman 68 69 66 67, Justin Leonard 66 68 64 72, Jeff Overton 69 67 65 69, Charlie Wi 67 70 66 67 -9: Corey Pavin 71 69 66 65, Ted Purdy 69 65 66 71, Sean O Hair 65 64 70 72, John Senden (Australia) 68 67 67 69 Also: -8: Nick O Hern (Australia) 69 69 66 68 -3: James Nitties (Australia) 67 68 70 72 -2: Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 70 67 67 74 -1: Adam Scott (Australia) 68 71 69 71 E: Rod Pampling (Australia) 73 66 67 74 European PGA Tour, Final Round of the European Open, The London Golf Club, England -7: Christian Cevaer 67 70 70 74 -6: Gary Orr 71 72 68 71, Alvaro Quiros 71 70 69 72, Steve Webster 69 72 70 71 -5: Stephen Dodd 75 70 70 68, Jeev Milkha Singh 67 69 71 76, Chris Wood 69 73 68 73 -4: Ben Curtis 68 73 75 68, Marcus Fraser (Australia) 69 70 72 73, Soren Hansen 69 75 67 73, Manuel Jose Lara 70 68 74 72 -3: Rory McIlroy 69 73 68 75 -2: David Drysdale 72 71 72 71, Sergio Garcia 69 75 74 68, Martin Kaymer 71 72 72 71 -1: Robert Karlsson 68 74 75 70, Louis Oosthuizen 68 75 70 74 Also: +5: Brett Rumford (Australia) 75 70 74 74