K J Choi after his US PGA Tour victory on Hawaii (image from US PGA Tour website).

K J CHOI COMES OFF THE BOIL BUT STILL
WINS SONY OPEN BY THREE SHOTS

South Korean K J Choi could muster only birdie in the final round, but kept the mistakes to a minimum to claim an all-the-way victory at the Sony Open at Honolulu, Hawaii.
Choi, who had two bogeys on his last-day scorecard, had to wait until the very last hole to record a birdie - but he did not need it! His one-over-par 71 was still good enough to give him a three-shot win at the first full-field event of the US PGA Tour season.
He finished at 14-under 266 for the first wire-to-wire victory in the tournament since Brad Faxon's win in 2001.
Choi, who had set a blistering pace over the first three days with rounds of 65, 66 and 66 against the par of 70, started the round with a four-stroke cushion but found it tough going in blustery conditions at Waialae Country Club.
Rory Sabbatini of South Africa had his chances but made just enough mistakes to keep himself from catching Choi as he finished second at 11-under 269 after a two-under 68.
Jerry Kelly finished third on 270 after closing with a 67.
Choi, who drove the ball on average 306.9 yards, hit 75% of the greens in regulation and averaged 1.741 putts per hole, picked up $954,000 (£487,000) for winning his seventh career US PGA Tour title.
Glasgow's Martin Laird earned $11,925 and 56 Fedex Cup points for a two-over-par total of 282 and a joint 55th place finish.
It was not a performance the Scot would have been pleased with. He had 13 birdies but 15 bogeys over the four rounds, five of them over the first eight holes of his final round of three-over 73. Laird got his first birdie on Sunday at the ninth but shed another shot at the 12th before birdieing the 15th and 18th for 34 home. His earlier rounds were 69, 70 and 70.

But his US PGA Tour career is off and running. He made his first cut, made some dollars. That will do for a start!

Final Totals
SONY OPEN
Waialae Country Club
Honolulu, Hawaii
Par 280 (4 x 70)
266 KJ Choi (SKor) 64 65 66 71
269 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 66 69 66 68
270 Jerry Kelly 67 67 69 67
272 Kevin Na (SKor) 67 64 69 72, Steve Stricker 71 65 66 70, Steve Marino 65 67 68 72, Pat Perez 69 66 67 70
273 Troy Matteson 69 67 65 72, Tom Pernice Jnr. 70 67 66 70
274 Dustin Johnson 68 68 67 71, Chad Campbell 66 69 66 73, Douglas Labelle 67 69 66 72, Fred Funk 69 64 69 72, Heath Slocum 65 69 69 71, Parker McLachlin 73 66 65 70, Stephen Ames (Can) 70 68 65 71
275 J.B. Holmes 68 70 64 73, George McNeill 68 71 70 66, Matthew Jones (Aus) 68 69 68 70
276 Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 69 68 69 70, Jim Furyk 68 70 69 69, Jay Williamson 67 68 66 75, Steve Lowery 66 72 71 67, James Driscoll 66 69 73 68
277 Jeff Maggert 69 69 68 71, Vaughn Taylor 67 70 69 71, Chad Collins 67 70 73 67, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 68 68 68 73, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 67 68 69 73, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 68 69 62 78, Mark Wilson 72 65 66 74
278 Brad Adamonis 66 68 70 74, Zach Johnson 67 70 69 72, Paul Azinger 70 68 69 71, John Merrick 69 69 69 71, Chez Reavie 68 66 69 75, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 66 71 68 73, Cameron Beckman 67 71 70 70, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 69 70 66 73
279 Brian Gay 67 67 70 75, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 67 67 71 74, J.P. Hayes 66 70 71 72, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 68 69 69 73, Shane Bertsch 71 66 72 70
280 Spencer Levin 67 68 73 72, Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 68 69 73, Jason Allred 69 69 74 68, Scott Sterling 70 69 69 72, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 70 66 70 74
281 Patrick Sheehan 71 68 69 73, Robert Gamez 67 70 73 71, Sean O'Hair 69 70 71 71, Bubba Watson 70 69 67 75, Kevin Streelman 68 69 72 72
282 Bob Estes 69 66 71 76, Kiyoshi Miyazato (Jpn) 69 70 70 73, Jim McGovern 71 65 70 76, Martin Laird 69 70 70 73, Tom Lehman 70 68 68 76, John Mallinger 67 72 71 72
283 Mitsuhiro Tateyama (Jpn) 66 70 75 72, Jimmy Walker 65 68 73 77, Briny Baird 68 68 73 74
284 Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 68 69 71 76
285 Matt Kuchar 70 67 73 75
286 Dudley Hart 68 69 74 75, John Riegger 67 69 74 76
287 Mark Calcavecchia 68 71 73 75