Charley Hoffman produced the performance of his life to win the second of the FedEx Cup play-off events in Boston.

England's Luke Donald will look back at what might have been after leading by two seven holes into his final round in the Deutsche Bank Championship, but Hoffman was in a league of his own.

The 33-year-old with only one win in his previous 297 US Tour events had an incredible 11 birdies for a closing 62, his career low score, and five-shot victory.

Nobody else on the day scored better than 65.

Donald, one of Colin Montgomerie's three wild card picks for the Ryder Cup, went to the turn in 33, but had a hat-trick of bogeys from the 14th and fell back to joint second with Australians Jason Day and Geoff Ogilvy.

Hoffman was four behind Day at the start of the day, but started to make his presence felt with four successive birdies from the second.

He also turned in 33, but after another birdie at the 10th he hit the flagstick on the par three next and then sank a bunker shot at the 13th.

That took him one in front and, far from buckling under the pressure, he picked up more shots at the 15th and 16th and put the icing on the cake with a two-putt four on the 528-yard 18th.

He moves into second spot on the play-off standings behind compatriot Matt Kuchar, winner of last week's Barclays event in New Jersey.

"I actually didn't know how many birdies I had," he said. "The ball just kept going in the hole, It was a really fun day.

"I was just trying to keep the pedal down. I didn't have a clue.

Donald, who has now had 27 top 10 finishes since his last win in America four-and-a-half years ago, lost his normal accuracy on the back nine.

He three-putted the 14th and 16th and in between could not recover from driving into sand.

The world number 11 did at least come back with birdies on the final two holes for 69, though, and got an unexpected second when Day closed with a bogey six.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, remains world number one after finishing with three birdies for a 68 and 10-under total of 274 to move up into a tie for 11th.

That was a massive 12 strokes adrift of Hoffman, but once again Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker missed the chance to take over at the top.

Stricker had to win, and from fourth after 54 holes he shot 71 to slip to ninth, while Mickelson, for whom a top-three finish would have done it, crashed from sixth to 25th with a scrappy 76 that included two penalty drops en route to a triple bogey seven on the 10th.

American Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin names his four wild cards on Tuesday and when asked if he was expecting a call Woods, needing a pick for the first time, said: "We will see - hopefully he has my number!"

As for Ireland's Padraig Harrington, his missed cut on Saturday did end his interest in the play-offs as feared.

Only the top 70 on the points table qualify for this week's event in Chicago and Harrington, another of Montgomerie's selections, dropped from 57th to 73rd.