He recovered to make birdie on the first extra hole and clinch the tournament – and with it a trip to the Masters.

Adam Scott carded his third successive two-under-par 70 to finish the tournament as the highest-ranked Australian in a share of 14th, 15 shots off the lead.

It was a wild finish on so many levels.

McCarthy was six shots behind going to the back nine at the TPC San Antonio on Sunday, when he birdied eight of the nine holes – including the last seven – making a 12-foot birdie for a nine-under 63.

Bhatia had to make his birdie putt from the same range to have a chance.

He made it for a 67, raising his arms to shake them in his clutch moment. And that's when he felt his shoulder pop out of its socket.

Bhatia hit his tee shot and laid up with a 5-iron on the par-5 18th in the play-off.

McCarthy, playing in his 174th PGA Tour event without winning, was first to play and chunked a wedge so badly he immediately hung his head.

"It's hard to win out there as it showed today. My mum's birthday was April 1 and her wish was to go to the Masters." – Akshay Bhatia.

The ball came up some 20 yards short into the middle of a creek.

Bhatia called for treatment, jogging off the course briefly to get his shoulder taped. He returned and hit wedge to six feet.

Needing three putts to win, he holed it to taste success for the second time on the PGA Tour.

"Man, what a crazy, crazy day," Bhatia said.

The 22-year-old, who turned pro five years ago, won at the Barracuda Championship last summer. It was held opposite The Open Championship, so it did not get him into the Masters.

This one did, his first trip to Augusta National.

"This is awesome," he said.

"It's hard to win out there as it showed today. My mum's birthday was April 1 and her wish was to go to the Masters."

McCarthy had already earned his spot from finishing in the top-50 in the world last year, but all that mattered in this moment was that elusive PGA Tour trophy.

He lost in a play-off last year at the Memorial to Viktor Hovland.

This might have been even more crushing given the circumstances.

Rory McIlroy closed with a 66 to finish alone in third in his final event before the Masters, the one major keeping him from a career grand slam.

"I'm in a better spot than I was a few weeks ago," he said.

"It was nice to see a round like this today, nice to play a golf tournament where ... I'm going to finish quite a few shots behind Denny and Akshay, but I played pretty solid in some tough conditions."