WASHINGTON, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Australian Stuart Appleby from Australia took his second US PGA event of the season at the Houston Open after firing a final-round five-under par 67 Sunday.

    Appleby, who turns 35 on May 1, finished 72 holes on 19-under par 269, beating American Bob Estes by six strokes and tying the largest margin of victory in the history of the tournament.

    American Steve Stricker of the United States was third on 276, one stroke atop Sweden's Mathias Gronberg, two ahead of American Jerry Smith and three ahead of Canada's Mike Weir, Swede Richard Johnson, South Korean KJ Choi and Americans JL Lewis and Brett Wetterich.

    The victory was Appleby's second of the year, following a third consecutive triumph at the season-opening Mercedes Championship, a Hawaii-based tournament of champions.

    Appleby joined Masters champion Phil Mickelson and world number one Tiger Woods as the only multiple winners on the US PGA Tour this season.

    It was also his second Houston title after 1999 on a different course, putting him alongside Arnold Palmer and Vijay Singh among multiple Houston champions. Enditem