A wild day at Waialae Country Club closed a crazy Sony Open in Hawaii week Sunday. Imperturbable and irrepressible Johnson Wagner was the last golfer standing.
Wagner blew through a rare Kona wind to break away from a pack that had 23 guys within three shots at one stage. He fired a final-round 67 to finish at 13-under-par 267, two better than Carl Pettersson, Sean O’Hair, Harrison Frazar and Charles Howell III.
Golfers were going in reverse so quickly early — third-round leaders Jeff Maggert and Matt Every were a combined 6 over after six holes — that Tadd Fujikawa’s 67 was on the cusp of putting him in contention at 7 under.
It did put him on the manual leaderboard along No. 18 just before noon. All those at 8 under were ignored because "Our Man Tadd" had captured Waialae’s attention, yet again.
The Moanalua High graduate grabbed a share of 19th and $69,025. It was his best PGA Tour finish, beating the 20th that introduced him to the golf world as a fist-pumping/bumping 16-year-old amateur with a huge smile at the 2006 Sony.
He also had a 32nd here three years ago, which was his biggest paycheck until Sunday.
Wagner is $990,000 richer after his third win, which was earned on the back nine, where he was 14 under.
"I don’t think I made a bogey on the back nine all week," Wagner said. "I shot 5 under on my first nine holes Thursday, and when I started planning my interview sitting in here for the 59 I was going to shoot, I then made four bogeys in a row or something on the front nine. That kind of brought me back down to earth a little bit.
"But I played the back nine great all week and I knew if I could get through that front nine under par (Sunday) then I would have a good chance to win."
He started the final day at 10 under, two back of Maggert and Every, and promptly bogeyed the first hole. Wagner’s birdie at No. 9 made him one of six guys who would get to 11 under.
A birdie on the next hole put him in first and he would not budge on a back nine he now adores, giving himself breathing room with a "huge" 14-foot birdie putt at the 15th.
By the time Wagner and Howell got to the final hole, Pettersson, O’Hair and Frazar — who lost a playoff with Ernie Els in 2004 — were in at 11 under.
Pettersson got there first, birdieing four of the final six to play the back in 31. That was better than anyone Sunday but John Rollins, who came in early with the day’s best round, a 6-under 64.
At the turn, Wagner sensed this Sony would come down to him and Howell, who now has six top-five finishes here, including a second five years ago.
"I really like this golf tournament," Howell said. "I would love to win this one. This one is right up there at the top.
"Any other tournament I’d be encouraged but here, maybe I’m a little bit frustrated. I mean, it’s still encouraging. It’s hard to ever say a top-three finish is not. But yeah, I would really like to get this one."
His putter let him down Sunday, much to Howell’s surprise. He had 33 putts — six more than Wagner — and didn’t make anything longer than 8 feet.
"Today I just didn’t putt very well," Howell said. "I didn’t putt well enough to put any pressure on Johnson. But he played fantastic. He hit every shot he needed to hit and he played great."
Wagner, a 31-year-old ranked 198th in the world, also sensed he would win early this year. He even said it out loud to those close to him, inspired by a hard-working offseason that spiked his confidence.
"I was definitely telling people to expect something early this year, which is a nice feeling," Wagner recalled. "Usually my confidence is low. I’m kind of shy in a little shell, and I for some reason just had way more energy and confidence going into this year."
His focus now is not simply to maintain but "to get better, every day. There’s no flat-lining in golf. It’s so cliche, but if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.
"This is the greatest moment of my golf life, but I want to get better from here and that’s where I need to mentally find myself."
