Johnson Wagner Finishes Strong To Win 2012 Sony Open In Hawaii

Johnson Wagner carded a 3-under 67 in the final round to earn a two-shot victory at the Sony Open in Hawaii on Sunday. Wagner was playing from behind for much of the day, but took advantage of miscues by the final pairing, with both players carding rounds over par. Matt Every and Jeff Maggert, co-leaders after three rounds, finished at 10-under and 8-under for the tournament, respectively.

Wagner closed strong in the final round, making the turn 1-under before coming home with a 2-under on the back nine. Throughout the week, Wagner stayed away from trouble on the back nine, failing to card a bogey in his four rounds. And on Sunday, his closing ability paid off as he picked up his third win on tour.

With the fourth-round results for the bottom half of the leaderboard of the Sony Open in Hawaii now on the board, Jeff Maggert and Matt Every, coming into the final round at -12 and not set to tee off until 6:05 PM Eastern, are still comfortably ahead.

While Brendon de Jonge, Johnson Wagner and Charles Howell III are at -10 and there is a huge group of golfers sitting at -8, none of the players behind them made any type of charge on Sunday morning.

PGA Tour golfers use putters of just about every shape and size imaginable. We’ve seen tiny putters, mallets, blades, just about anything that could be used to a player’s advantage. But I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player putt with a miniature loveseat.

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American Matt Every leads the 2012 Sony Open in Hawaii by two strokes with a 10-under after a strong second round, shooting a 64. Yesterday’s leader, Canadian Graham DeLaet, plummeted down the leader board after following up his strong first round shooting a 72 on Friday in the second round. Behind Every, David Hearn and Carl Pettersson are locked in at second place, both shooting 8-under after two rounds.

The third round of the Sony Open gets underway at 7:30 a.m. local time in Hawaii. Coverage of the round will begin at 7 p.m. ET on the Golf Channel, with the broadcast window set to run until 10:30 p.m. It will also air on the Golf Channel from 11 p.m. ET until 2 a.m. ET the same night.

Canadian Graham DeLaet leads the 2012 Sony Open in Hawaii after a strong first round on Thursday, in which he fired a 7-under 63. With the solid round, DeLaet vaulted to the top of the leaderboard, taking a two-shot advantage over the field in the early-season PGA Tour tournament. He’s trailed by a group of three -- Carl Pettersson, K.J. Choi and Kyle Riefers -- heading into the second round.

The second round of the Sony Open gets underway at 7:10 a.m. local time in Hawaii, making for a late start on the East Coast. Coverage of the round doesn’t begin until 7 p.m. ET on the Golf Channel, with the broadcast window set to run until 10:30 p.m.

A year after having back surgery, Canadian Graham DeLaet has returned to post the best round of the day at the 2012 Sony Open on Thursday. DeLaet finished his opening round with two birdies to shoot a 7-under 63 to take the clubhouse lead by two shots over K.J. Choi, Carl Pettersson and Kyle Reifers in early action.

DeLaet started his round with a birdie and finished his front nine with a birdie-eagle finish, the eagle coming off a 30-foot chip from just off the green at the par-5 ninth.

The Sony Open in Hawaii marks the second event of the 2012 PGA Tour, and 2011 winner Mark Wilson will be out to defend his title. Wilson shot 16-under to win last year’s event by two strokes. This year Wilson will be in tough pairing, as he will tackle the Waialae Country Club golf course with David Toms and Zach Johnson. Tom and Johnson won the tournament in 2006 and 2009, respectively.

Wilson is playing with two golfers who are in the latter half of the top 50 World Golf Rankings, but also in the field be two top 10 golfers: No. 5 Steve Stricker and No. 7 Webb Simpson. Stricker is No. 1 in the FedEx standings and the PGA Tour money list after winning the first event of the season, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.