HONOLULU -- David Toms has never been faint of heart in the heat of competition, having grown up playing junior baseball against the likes of future major league players Albert Belle and Ben McDonald before taking on the best golfers in the world and winning a major championship among his dozen PGA TOUR victories.

Last fall he was no more reluctant to get back into the batter’s box after being taken down by a nasty curveball, a physiological brush-back pitch that came in the form of a shortness of breath, dizziness and a heartbeat that raced to 170 beats per minute. The frightening episode occurred in the middle of the first round of the 84 LUMBER Classic, just a week before The Presidents Cup.

Rushed to the hospital and briefly listed in critical condition, Toms would later be diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia, a condition that had caused his heart to race numerous times in the past few years, but never as severely as that day in Pennsylvania when he was layed out on a stretcher and taken by helicopter to a Pittsburgh area hospital.

Amazingly, a medicated Toms was able to return to action in time to secure a singles victory over Trevor Immelman as the U.S. won The Presidents Cup for captain Jack Nicklaus. In November Toms underwent a five-hour surgical procedure to correct the condition. Doctors basically corrected nerves in the heart that are misfiring.

On Sunday, displaying nary a pulse -- or a misfire with his clubs -- the laconic Louisiana native outdueled third-round co-leader Chad Campbell and won the Sony Open in Hawaii. A final-round 65 (impressive on the heels of a 61 the day prior) gave Toms a 19-under 261 total and allowed him to pull away from Campbell and Rory Sabbatini for a five-shot victory in the first full-field event of 2006.

Toms, as is his reclining nature, downplayed the heart surgery angle to his storyline. “That’s definitely behind me,” he said in one breath, but in another he added, “I know I’ve come a long way from that day in Pennsylvania.”

Without a doubt there is no downplaying the heart Toms shows when under duress. He gave Tiger Woods a tussle in the final of the 2003 World Golf Championship-Accenture Match Play Championship despite a bout of severe food poisoning. Toms came back to win the event last year.

No less strength of heart was required in the 2005 British Open at St. Andrews, Scotland. Toms disqualified himself after the first round for signing an incorrect scorecard. He thought he had putted out while his ball was moving -- ever so slightly -- on the famous Road Hole at the Old Course. No one saw it but him. Toms followed his heart.

He’s doing that again now. His 39th birthday having just passed, Toms is eager to challenge the power players of this era with his elegant game built around precision. And he is hungry to show how many times he can win such anachronistic skills.

“When I started winning tournaments, that felt good, but I wouldn’t say it was everything to me, and now it is,” he admitted Sunday after becoming $918,000 richer. “I feel good, I’m confident in my game, and it’s what I want to do is win. I think you have to really, really want to do it before it’s going to happen.”

Why, the, um, change of heart?

“Well, I’m getting older. … I’m not saying I’m close to being done or anything, but I have to get it now when I can and when I do play well, capitalize on it,” he said. “It’s just a mindset more than anything else.”

Though winning was clearly his sole focus this week, Toms couldn’t quite allow himself down the stretch to become totally immersed in his success, not when he couldn’t stop thinking of his friend and fellow LSU graduate, Adam Young. The executive director of Toms’ charity foundation, Young a few weeks ago was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease.

“Certainly, this win is for him,” Toms said quietly. “I was thinking about him a lot today. I thought of him walking up 18. This week I’ve tried to have the same positive attitude that he’s had every time I’ve talked to him. My heart goes out to him.”

And a strong heart it is.