Choi keeps cool to land Sony title

Sony Open: KJ Choi managed just one birdie in the final round but kept the mistakes to a minimum to claim victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

The Korean was unable to manage a birdie until the final hole but his one-over-par 71 was still good enough to give him a three-shot win at the first full-field event of the 2008 PGA Tour season.

Choi started the round with a four-stroke cushion but found it tough going in blustery conditions at Waialae Country Club.

Despite his lack of birdies, Choi had just two bogeys and finished at 14-under 266 for the first wire-to-wire victory in the tournament since Brad Faxon's win in 2001.

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 picked up US$954,000 for winning his seventh career PGA Tour title.

Collated final round scores from the US PGA Tour's Sony Open at Waialae CC in Honolulu, Hawaii (USA unless stated, par 72):

(US unless stated, par 70)

266 KJ Choi (Kor) 64 65 66 71

269 Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 66 69 66 68

270 Jerry Kelly 67 67 69 67

272 Kevin Na (Kor) 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