American Hunter Mahan surged late to take victory away from a vintage Stuart Appleby performance and a rejuvenated Jason Day in the US PGA tour’s opening playoff event at Ridgewood Country Club.

Mahan shot out of a logjammed leaderboard with a six-under 65, making five birdies in his last eight holes, to finish at 14-under-par.

His blitz created enough of a buffer to allow him a bogey down the last and still top Day (68), Appleby (65) and American Cameron Tringale (65) by two shots, with the trio sharing second at 12-under.

Day, the overnight co-leader, held the outright lead after nine holes on Sunday but could only manage a one-under back nine as Mahan surged.

His consolation is a certain berth in the remainder of the playoffs as he moves to seventh on the season-long points list.

Appleby, who was fighting for his survival in the playoffs, played the back nine in five-under to card a 65 and also go close to securing a berth all the way to the tour championship.

Starting at 98th in the 125 man playoffs, Appleby went close to his first win since 2010 and is projected to move all the way to 19th on the points list.

Adam Scott’s three-under 68 left him at seven-under and tied 15th in his title defence, leaving him 16th on the playoff list.

Steven Bowditch who briefly held the lead on the opening day, shot 69 to finish at five-under, good enough to secure his place in the next two weeks of playoffs now at 44th.

John Senden finished his tournament in fine fashion with a 66 to be five-under for the week, ensuring minimal damage was done to his season long FedEx Cup standing.

Looking to maintain a position inside the top 30 over the next three weeks to qualify for the Tour Championship, Senden is currently projected to be 28th.

Geoff Ogilvy, who missed the cut, has managed to hold on to the very last playoff spot moving into next week’s Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.

The playoff season is officially over for Robert Allenby and Aaron Baddeley leaving eight Australians left in the top 100 next week.