Ernie Els successfully defended his title at the Sony Open with a 22-foot birdie at the third play-off hole to beat Harrison Frazar at Waialae Country Club.

Frazar almost won in regulation with a two-putt birdie at the par-five 18th, but Els sank a clutch 10-footer to force extra holes. Els shot a closing 65 and Frazar a 66 to tie at 18-under 262, three shots ahead of Davis Love III.

The South African became the first player to win the event two years in a row since Corey Pavin in 1986-87, picking up £480,000 for his 13th victory on the PGA Tour.

Els had a slow start to the year with a mediocre performance at last week's Mercedes Championship, but he showed his enormous talent by quickly playing his way into top form. He made only one bogey in the final round, and just three for the week.

Both players parred the first two extra holes, before Els won at the par-three 11th to improve his PGA Tour playoff record to 4-2.

Collated final round scores and totals in the USPGA Tour, Sony Open, Waialae CC, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA (USA unless stated, par 70):

262 Ernie Els (Rsa) 67 64 66 65 (Ernie Els won after 3rd playoff hole), Harrison Frazar 67 63 66 66

265 Davis Love III 70 65 63 67, 266 Frank Lickliter II 71 62 65 68

267 Jerry Kelly 68 65 69 65, Briny Baird 68 66 66 67

268 John Riegger 68 66 67 67

269 Stephen Ames (Tri) 66 70 65 68, Craig Barlow 66 69 66 68

270 John Huston 67 67 69 67, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 67 69 65 69, Omar Uresti 72 66 67 65, Paul Azinger 67 66 66 71, Vijay Singh (Fij) 69 68 67 66

271 Craig Bowden 70 64 69 68, Bo Van Pelt 71 65 67 68, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 65 68 70 68, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 67 69 69 66, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 66 72 67 66

272 Shaun Micheel 72 64 68 68, Corey Pavin 68 67 66 71, Chris Riley 69 69 67 67, Carlos Franco (Par) 63 72 68 69, Joe Durant 70 66 69 67, Michael Allen 68 69 65 70, Luke Donald (Gbr) 66 66 71 69

273 Robert Gamez 67 66 72 68, Steve Allan (Aus) 67 62 70 74, Charles Howell III 68 68 69 68, Cameron Beckman 70 69 66 68

274 Pat Perez 70 69 65 70, Jonathan Byrd 67 69 66 72, Tim Herron 67 69 69 69, Mark Hensby (Aus) 68 69 68 69, Ben Crane 68 70 68 68

275 Brian Gay 69 67 73 66, Jaxon Brigman 69 65 72 69, Duffy Waldorf 70 67 68 70, Fred Funk 69 64 74 68, Bart Bryant 68 70 70 67

276 John Maginnes 68 68 69 71, Pat Bates 68 65 72 71, Jason Dufner 69 70 65 72, Brent Geiberger 70 67 68 71, Kevin Na (Kor) 68 67 70 71, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 71 67 69 69, Tommy Armour 72 67 70 67

277 Tjaart Van der Walt (Rsa) 69 68 69 71, Ted Purdy 66 71 71 69, Olin Browne 70 68 73 66, Russ Cochran 69 69 71 68, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 67 66 72 72, Peter Jacobsen 69 70 69 69

278 Dan Briggs 71 67 69 71, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 72 67 72 67, Jonathan Kaye 67 68 68 75, Andre Stolz (Aus) 68 70 70 70, Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn) 73 66 70 69

279 Bob Burns 71 67 70 71, Ken Duke 70 69 68 72, David Ishii (Jpn) 66 71 74 68, Scott Simpson 70 66 73 70, Tom Lehman 72 67 71 69

280 Jason Bohn 69 66 72 73, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 68 67 71 74, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 67 70 71 72, Bobby Kalinowski 70 68 71 71, Brad Lardon 69 69 69 73, Joe Ogilvie 71 68 73 68, Woody Austin 69 70 71 70, Lucas Glover 71 68 74 67, Ryan Palmer 70 66 70 74, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 71 68 68 73, Todd Fischer 69 70 70 71, John Senden (Aus) 71 67 69 73

281 Jeff Brehaut 69 69 71 72

283 Heath Slocum 67 71 72 73

284 Loren Roberts 71 68 75 70

286 Tom Carter 70 69 75 72