NEWS

Sony Open in Hawaii: Final-Round Notebook
 
Jan. 15, 2007
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By Todd Budnick
PGA TOUR Media Official

HONOLULU -- With his T34 finish in the Sony Open in Hawaii on Sunday, Vijay Singh earned 127 FedExCup points and took the lead in the FedExCup points race by 127 points over Sony Open winner Paul Goydos, who earned 4,500 points for his efforts.

Charles Howell III
Charles Howell III has eight second places since his last victory. (Marco Garcia/WireImage)
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
HOWELL'S RUNNER-UP FINISHES
Year Finish Tournament
2007 T2 Sony Open
2006 T 84 Lumber Classic
2006 T2 Zurich Classic
2005 T2 Buick Invitational
2004 2 Booz Allen Classic
2003 T2 TOUR Championship
2003 2 Nissan Open
2002 2 TOUR Championship
2001 2 Greater Milwaukee Open
• Charles Howell's Player Page

Paul Goydos began the 2007 season just a step above where he left off in 2006. He used a T2 finish at the full-field season-ending Chrysler Championship to gain his fully exempt status for the 2007 season and admittance to the Sony Open. His win here gives him back-to-back top threes for the first time in his 15-year TOUR career.

  • Luke Donald and K.J. Choi were the only two players to post back-to-back top-10s in Hawaii to start the 2007 season. Donald finished seventh at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and T2 at the Sony Open in Hawaii, while Choi finished T8 and T4, respectively.

  • Charles Howell III recorded his ninth career runner-up finish (T2) in his seventh season on the PGA TOUR. It was his eighth runner-up since his lone victory at the 2002 Michelob Championship at Kingsmill.

  • Amateur Tadd Fujikawa (16 years, four days) from Honolulu, who became the youngest player to make a cut on the PGA TOUR since amateur Bob Panasik (15 years, 8 months, 20 days) in 1957, finished the tournament T20. That's the best finish by an amateur on TOUR since Lloyd Saltman finished T15 at the 2005 British Open. The last amateur to make the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii was Don Hurter, who finished T36 in 1981.

  • Tadd Fujikawa shared the lead in Greens in Regulation with K.J. Choi and John Senden at 75.00%, hitting 54 of 72 in regulation for the week.

  • Last year, the Driving Accuracy percentage for the field in the 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club was a TOUR low 43.66%. In 2007, the field fared a little better but still came in under 50% at 48.39%. This year's leader was Jerry Kelly (67.86%).

  • The only past champion to post a top-10 finish this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii was 1996 winner Jim Furyk, who finished T4. Defending champion David Toms had another good finish here at Waialae Country Club. The T13 was the fourth time he has finished inside the top 13 in four starts -- T4 in 2002, T12 in 2005 and 1st in 2006.

  • Rookie Doug LaBelle II finished T4 after opening with rounds of 69-71 to make the cut on the number. With closing rounds of 66-65, he was the top finishing rookie among the nine who made the cut. This was his first cut made in four TOUR starts.

  • How did the other rookies fare: George McNeill (T13), Andrew Buckle (T28), Craig Lile (T34), Steve Marino (T34), Johnson Wagner (T34), Jarrod Lyle (T42), Jeff Quinney (T59) and Michael Putnam (T68).

  • 2006 Comeback Player of the Year Steve Stricker continued his return to form this week in Honolulu. Stricker, who hasn't won since the 2001 World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, posted seven top-10s in 2006 and added a T4 in his first start of the 2007 season.

  • Ten players came into the final round with a chance to post four rounds in the 60s this week. When the final putt dropped, just two players accomplished the feat -- Luke Donald and Jim Furyk. Last year, winner David Toms and Jerry Kelly were the only players to do so. Two years ago, champion Vijay Singh was the only player with four rounds in the 60s. Three years ago, 14 players accomplished the feat.

  • 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy posted his first top-10 (T8) of the season thanks to a final-round 6-under 64 on Sunday at Waialae CC. Ogilvy posted the best round of the day.

  • Pat Perez, who had to shut down his 2006 season in mid-September due to tendonitis in both elbows, used a final-round 4-under 66 to post his first top-10 of the season, a T10. The diagnosis for Perez was to rest all off-season, which he did, and he noted that most of the pain is gone now.

  • Craig Kanada returning to the PGA TOUR for the first time since 2001, posted his first career TOUR top-10 in his 59th start. The top-10 came more than 15 years since his first TOUR start as an amateur at the 1991 Centel Western Open. Coming into the season, Kanada had career earnings of $159,508; he earned nearly that much this week ($130,000).

  • John Daly, who lost his fully exempt status after finishing 193rd on the 2006 PGA TOUR money list and entered the week via Sponsor Exemption, began his 2007 on the right foot with a T28 finish. Daly can receive unlimited Sponsor Exemptions thanks to his past champion status.

  • Doug LaBelle posted the only bogey-free round on Sunday, bringing the number of bogey-free rounds on the week to 16. LaBelle finished the tournament with 30 straight holes without a bogey. The longest streak of the week was turned in by Bart Bryant (46).

  • Mathew Goggin was disqualified from the tournament after Sunday's final round after calling an impropriety on himself for taking an improper drop during one of the first two rounds. He took relief from a sprinkler head and dropped the ball on the green, and played the ball from there. He should not have taken a drop on the green.

  • Sony Open in Hawaii champion Paul Goydos earned his second career PGA TOUR victory in his 15th season (361st start) on TOUR at the age of 42 years 6 months and 11 days. His first victory came at the 1996 Bay Hill Invitational. He earned a two-year exemption on TOUR, which carries through the 2009 season, and earns exemptions into several invitationals, including the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Championship, the tournament of champions.

  • Paul Goydos became the fourth 40+year-old player to win the Sony Open in Hawaii since 1999, when the course changed from par 72 to par 70. The others were Jeff Sluman (1999), Paul Azinger (2000) and Vijay Singh (2005). Goydos is the second consecutive 40-something player to win on TOUR in two events (Vijay Singh/Mercedes-Benz Championship).

  • The win was Goydos' fourth top-10 in 12 starts at the Sony Open in Hawaii dating back to 1993 -- T7 (1997 & '99) and T8 (1994). Goydos tied Luke Donald (Rd 1) and Charles Howell III (Rd 2) for low round of the tournament; his 7-under 63 came during round two. The 63 was one off his career-low 62, which came during round one of the 1999 GTE Byron Nelson Classic.

  • The win comes 10 years, 9 months and 28 days since his last victory at the 1996 Bay Hill Invitational, a span of 256 starts in between the two victories. Coincidentally, both his wins have been come-from-behind and both involved two-stroke comebacks.

  • The $936,000 winner's check was more than Goydos has earned in any of his previous 14 years on the PGA TOUR. His high of $890,392 came in 2006. Goydos earned 4,500 FedExCup points to sit in second 127 points behind Vijay Singh after two events.

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