Kevin Na overcame a three-stroke deficit with six holes to play with three straight birdies and another on the 18th hole to win the Sony Open in Honolulu on Sunday.
Na carded a five under-par 65 on Sunday to finish at 21-under 259 at Waialae Country Club. The 37-year-old Na recorded his fifth PGA Tour victory by edging Chris Kirk and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, who tied for second one shot back.
Kirk carded his fourth consecutive round of 65 after collecting seven birdies against two bogeys. He earned enough FedEx Cup points to remain under the Major Medical Extension for the remainder of the season.
Niemann’s five-birdie, one-bogey performance resulted in a 66 on Sunday and his second straight runner-up finish. He lost in a playoff at last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Webb Simpson, who was the last player to finish second in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour, matched a low-round 64 to end up tied for fourth place on Sunday.
Simpson was knotted up with Australian Marc Leishman (65) and third-round leader Brendan Steele (69), who finished at 19-under for the tournament.
Na said after the round that he “felt pretty comfortable all day,” and he needed the strong back nine to get in position for the win.
After his only bogey of the day on the 12th hole, Na rattled off three straight birdies starting with a 15-foot putt on 13.
“I knew there was a lot of birdie holes left,” Na said. “I was having fun out there.”
Kirk was in the clubhouse and eyeing a playoff when Na wrapped it up on the 18th. Na’s second shot flew the green, but his chip shot to within a foot set up the clinching birdie. The victory allowed Na to record tournament wins in each of the last four seasons.
“I felt like Waialae is a golf course I really have a chance at, and there’s not too many of these left anymore, so I have to take advantage of it,” Na said. “What a great feeling to win at a golf course I really feel like I can win at.”
Defending champion Cameron Smith finished tied for 62nd at eight under.
Collated final round scores and totals (USA unless stated, par 70):
259 Kevin Na 67 66 61 65
260 Chris Kirk 65 65 65 65, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 62 69 63 66
261 Marc Leishman (Aus) 66 65 65 65, Webb Simpson 65 65 67 64, Brendan Steele 65 66 61 69
262 Daniel Berger 64 68 64 66, Billy Horschel 65 66 66 65, Patton Kizzire 64 69 65 64, Collin Morikawa 66 65 67 64
263 Russell Henley 66 64 65 68, Matt Jones (Aus) 69 67 63 64, Nick Taylor (Can) 66 62 68 67
264 Charley Hoffman 66 65 64 69, Peter Malnati 62 69 64 69, Keith Mitchell 71 62 63 68, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 66 67 67 64, Nick Hardy 69 63 66 66
265 Stewart Cink 67 63 65 70, Kramer Hickok 67 68 65 65, Charles Howell III 67 68 66 64, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 65 69 65 66, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 69 66 66 64, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 66 65 66 68
266 Svn-Woo Kim (Kor) 64 70 65 67, Robby Shelton 66 67 65 68, Sepp Straka (Aut) 69 66 66 65, Hudson Swafford 65 68 67 66, Vaughn Taylor 64 66 68 68, Michael Thompson 66 68 66 66
267 Cameron Davis (Aus) 68 66 67 66
268 Ryan Armour 69 66 65 68, Wesley Bryan 68 67 67 66, Harris English 70 64 67 67, Brice Garnett 66 68 67 67, Jim Herman 64 69 69 66, Harry Higgs 65 71 67 65, Mark Hubbard 66 68 66 68, Kevin Kisner 69 67 64 68, Pat Perez 68 65 69 66
269 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 64 68 65 72, Lanto Griffin 68 65 67 69, James Hahn 68 65 66 70, Ryan Palmer 70 65 65 69, Adam Scott (Aus) 69 64 70 66, Brendon Todd 70 64 66 69
270 Scott Brown 70 66 67 67, Austin Cook 68 66 68 68, Jim Furyk 69 66 68 67, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 66 64 70, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 66 70 67 67, Nelson Ledesma (Arg) 67 66 71 66, Brian Stuard 66 67 69 68, Martin Trainer 70 66 70 64, Mike Weir (Can) 68 66 68 68
271 Chris Baker 69 67 69 66, Brian Harman 66 69 67 69, Sung-Jae Imn (Kor) 68 68 68 67, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 69 66 69 67, Jason Kokrak 62 71 66 72, Troy Merritt 66 67 70 68
272 Zach Johnson 71 65 68 68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 69 65 64 74, Cameron Smith (Aus) 67 66 68 71
273 Michael Kim 67 69 69 68, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 66 70 68 69
274 Ryosuke Kinoshita (Jpn) 68 68 69 69, Jamie Lovemark 68 68 71 67, Chez Reavie 68 68 69 69, Robert Streb 69 66 72 67
275 KJ Choi (Kor) 67 65 69 74
277 Brian Gay 67 69 68 73
