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After bad weather had forced the tournament into a fifth day, Harrington, without a PGA Tour title since a two-stroke win at the 2008 PGA Championship, sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th to finish level on six-under with rookie Daniel Berger and force a play-off.
The pair both two-putted the first extra hole at the 18th for par, before Harrington nailed his tee-shot at the 17th to within five-feet of the hole as Berger found the hazard. With the American only able to double-bogey, Harrington took two attempts from five feet to end his title drought and book his ticket to next month's Masters.
Earlier, Harrington had struck four birdies in a row to move in to the clubhouse lead, missing a 10-foot putt at the 15th for a fifth successive gain. The Irishman had lost his advantage with a double-bogey at the penultimate hole when his tee-shot flew into the water hazard, but sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th to force a play-off.
Berger, nine shots adrift heading in to the final round, had fired back-to-back birdies to close with an impressive six-under 64.
Poulter, searching for a first stroke-play win in America, opened the day by rolling in a birdie at the 8th before missing an 11-foot putt for a further gain at the following hole.
Reaching the turn two clear, the world No 36 opened up the top of the leaderboard with a double-bogey at the 11th, finding the water with his second shot and then two-putting from 15-feet.
The Englishman was unfortunate again at the 13th when, from 120 yards, his second shot from the fairway bunker rattled the flag and spun away, with the resulting 15-foot birdie putt rolling alongside the hole.
Things went from bad to worse for Poulter at the next when, after taking a drop out of water following a wayward tee-shot, his third shot from the dirt ricocheting off a palm tree and ended back in the lake. After seeing his fifth shot fall in to a deep bunker, Poulter had to settle for triple-bogey.
With others faltering around him, Poulter ended positively with back-to-back birdies to end tied-third alongside British duo Russell Knox and Paul Casey.
Overnight joint-leader Casey picked up an early birdie at the ninth, before dropping shots with an eight-foot missed putt at 11 and a tee-shot into a bunker at 14. Needing to pick up a stroke at the 18th to move joint-leader, Casey played his third shot out of the bunker to within 20-feet of the hole but saw his birdie-putt slow up inches short.
Despite carding three bogeys in his final round, Knox ended strongly to post a two-under 68, while Jamie Donaldson made three late gains to finish a further shot back, with a three-putt from 50-feet at the 16th his only blemish.
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