AVONDALE, Louisiana (AP) ― Jason Dufner beat Ernie Els with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff Sunday in the Zurich Classic to win for the first time in 164 starts on the PGA Tour.

Entering the fourth round with a two-shot lead, Dufner shot a 2-under 70 at TPC Louisiana, while Els had a 67 to match Dufner at 19-under 269.

Both missed birdie putts within 8 feet on the par-5 18th in the first playoff, so they went back to the 18th tee for the second extra hole, which Dufner won by hitting the green in two strokes and tapping home a short birdie putt after Els’ birdie attempt from the fringe narrowly missed. Dufner lost playoffs last year to Mark Wilson in the Phoenix Open and Keegan Bradley in the PGA Championship for two of his three career runner-up finishes.

“It’s always really tough playing on Sundays whether you’re in lead or middle of pack, and today I was fighting, trying to win event, and I think I showed myself a good bit out there,” Dufner said. “It was tough. Ernie made a great run at me and it felt like with five or six holes (to go) we were probably going to be battling for the win.

“To get the monkey off of my back, it’s a great feeling.”

The 6-foot-3 Els, who goes by the nickname “The Big Easy,” hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since the 2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, a little more than two years ago.

He did not have a single bogey in the final round or playoff, and would have won his 19th career PGA Tour title in, of all places, the Big Easy, if he could have made a birdie putt of a little less than 6 feet on the first playoff hole. He pushed it more than 2 feet past the edge of the hole.

Lewis holds off Thompson

MOBILE, Alabama (AP) ― Stacy Lewis won the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic on Sunday for her second LPGA Tour title, holding off hard-charging teen Lexi Thompson by a stroke. Lewis, who held a five-stroke lead early in the day, reclaimed the edge with a birdie on No. 16, while the 17-year-old Thompson parred the final hole and had to wait.

Lewis parred out. Her week was so solid that her finishing 3-under 69 was her worst round en route to a 17-under 271 total.