Wagner finds another gear, breaks away from the pack

That crush of cars exiting the H-1 at Waialae Avenue typical for the final day of the Sony Open in Hawaii — especially when Tadd Fujikawa makes the cut — wasn’t the only congestion in the Kahala area early Sunday afternoon.

Quite the jam clogged the Waialae Country Club golf course itself. Harrison Frazar, Keegan Bradley, Jeff Maggert, Matt Every and Johnson Wagner were all at 10 under at one point and tied for first.

At that time, anyone picking Wagner as the eventual winner was probably just a fan of "Magnum P.I." and old-school mustaches. After 31⁄2 rounds of tournament golf, nothing had been settled. Another large group lurked just a stroke behind.

"I birdied nine and Keegan eagled nine and we looked up at the scoreboard," Frazar said. "Eleven people within one shot. My caddie and I looked at each other and said, ‘Game on, this will make for great TV.’ "

It looked like the Ravens and Giants wouldn’t be the only playoff winners on this day.

Wagner and Every dropped back with bogeys. But while Every fell (as did Maggert, with whom he co-led headed into Sunday), Wagner quickly bounced back with birdies on Nos. 9 and 10 to take the lead.

Strangely, no one followed. Wagner was like an elite marathoner who finds another gear and discards the rest of the lead pack.

You couldn’t really say he sprinted through the tape, though. But Wagner’s shaky tap-in for par at 18 was more than enough as he finished with a 67.

The one player who made a run on the back nine before it was too late, Michael Thompson, was handicapped by having started the final round five strokes off the lead and three behind Wagner. Three consecutive birdies gave him a brief perch atop the board and, by his own admission, some jangly nerves.

"I felt I had a chance," said Thompson, who faltered with a bogey on 17. "But when you’ve got that many guys bunched up and any of them can play great …"

Thompson and Brian Gay were early clubhouse leaders at 10 under, quickly displaced by Carl Pettersson, who was a stroke better. But everyone knew it was almost as hopeless for 11 under to hold up. Too many great players in striking range remained on the course.

But they faced a dilemma: the fine line between aggressive and reckless. Going for it on a day with the fairways and greens not holding could easily lead to a fatal mistake.

"Each bogey hurts a little bit more," said Charles Howell III, Wagner’s playing partner who was among the horde in striking range most of the day. He finished tied for second.

Where others saw treacherous pin placement, Wagner saw chances to increase his lead.

"I was just feeling really good with my game and I was hitting a lot of fairways, and when you hit fairways out here you can be a little more aggressive. If you hit it to 20 feet to any of these pins, you can make putts; the greens were so good. I was trying to hit greens and give myself opportunities."

Wagner said he was selective about his peeks at the leaderboard, but he knew the posse wasn’t far behind. He kept charging as if he were chasing.

"I was definitely wanting to have putts at birdie on every hole," Wagner said. "I was not by any means in any position to just kind of lay down and start trying to make pars, because that’s an easy way to start making bogeys."

A lot of players put themselves in position to win early Sunday, and that made for a more exciting early afternoon. But only one wended his way through all of the traffic and took full advantage.

"It’s always about how you finish," Wagner said.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.