Walker wins Sony Open

Jimmy Walker, pictured, edged out Chris Kirk by a single shot to win the Sony Open
13 January 2014

A flawless seven-under-par final round of 63 saw Jimmy Walker win the Sony Open in Hawaii by one shot from Chris Kirk.

Walker, whose first PGA Tour win came at the Frys.com Open in October, picked up seven birdies around the Waialae Country Club course to finish 17-under par for the tournament.

The lead changed hands multiple times in Honolulu on Sunday with Kirk, Jerry Kelly and Harris English all scoring well to stay in contention until the very end.

Kirk started the day with the clubhouse lead but bogeyed the fourth hole, dragging himself back into the contest with six birdies across the last 10 holes to finish a stroke behind Walker.

A shot further back was tour veteran Kelly, who signed for a five-under par 65 and, while he sank as many birdies as the eventual champion, he would ultimately live to regret holing bogeys on the first and 14th holes.

English was rarely out of the top five places across the final two rounds and signed for a second three-under-par round of 67 after mixing birdies on five, seven, nine, 10 and 14 with bogeys on eight and 15.

Walker began the current season having claimed 19 top-10 finishes from 187 PGA Tour starts without tasting victory, but after two-putting for par from seven feet on the 18th hole he was able to celebrate winning a second title from his last six events.

The 34-year-old later told pgatour.com: "Today was awesome. I felt in control all day."

With Americans occupying eight of the top 10 spots - Brian Stuard, Jeff Overton, Charles Howell III and Matt Kuchar also did the host country proud - it fell to two Australians to represent the overseas players.

Marc Leishman might have truly challenged the leaders if not for his third-round score of 71 as a five-under-par 65 featured eight birdies to bring him within four shots of Walker.

Reigning Masters champion Adam Scott of Adelaide ended up in a 12-way tie for eighth place by finishing 10-under-par for the tournament.

South Korean Bae Sang-moon led the field on Thursday evening following his seven-under-par round of 63 but finished the tournament in a share of 32nd place after signing for 70 three times in a row.

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