The cream finally rose to the top as world number one Vijay Singh rallied for a one-stroke victory over South Africa's Ernie Els at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Singh started the final round four shots behind overnight leader Shigeki Maruyama, but made three straight birdies midway through the round and clinched the victory with another birdie at the par-five 18th.

England's Justin Rose, one shot off the lead at the halfway stage, finished eight shots adrift in a tie for 20th place after a second successive two-over-par 72.

Singh made light of another testing breeze at Waialae Country Club to shoot a five-under-par 65 and clinch his 25th career victory on the PGA Tour, including his 10th in the past 12 months. He completed 72 holes at 11-under 269.

Els, who closed with a 62, finished one shot ahead of Maruyama (71) and Charles Howell (67).

Maruyama was urged on by a huge gallery of his Japanese compatriots, but could not get the job done, playing the last eight holes in two over. That left Singh, who turns 42 next month, to collect £460,000 for the win.

Els left town in a positive frame of mind after playing the final three holes in four under. He birdied the 16th and 17th holes before rolling in an 18-foot eagle at number 18.

Collated final totals (USA unless stated, par 70):

269 Vijay Singh (Fij) 69 68 67 65

270 Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 67 70 62

271 Charles Howell III 70 70 64 67, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 67 65 68 71

272 Stewart Cink 66 69 72 65, Brett Quigley 66 67 68 71

273 Andrew Magee 67 68 71 67, Tommy Armour III 69 71 67 66

274 Robert Gamez 69 66 68 71, Craig Stadler 71 69 67 67, Tom Lehman 67 68 70 69, Bart Bryant 70 69 66 69

275 Shaun Micheel 70 68 68 69, David Toms 71 68 68 68, Jeff Maggert 70 68 68 69, Luke Donald (Eng) 74 67 65 69

276 Tim Herron 68 72 71 65, Paul Azinger 67 68 67 74, Jason Allred 69 68 70 69

277 Pat Perez 71 70 66 70, Jonathan Kaye 67 71 71 68, Tom Byrum 66 71 73 67, Justin Rose (Eng) 67 66 72 72, Loren Roberts 70 70 69 68, Joe Durant 69 72 69 67, Larry Mize 70 69 64 74, Adam Scott (Aus) 71 65 69 72

278 Craig Parry (Aus) 69 70 70 69, Ryan Palmer 69 70 70 69, Arron Oberholser 71 69 69 69, Jeff Sluman 67 68 73 70, Peter Jacobsen 72 68 70 68

279 Jason Bohn 71 70 69 69, Brian Gay 71 70 71 67, Brent Geiberger 68 71 70 70, Chris Riley 71 71 68 69, Jim Furyk 71 69 72 67

280 Franklin Langham 71 68 70 71, Heath Slocum 72 70 69 69, Rich Beem 70 69 74 67, Sean Murphy 70 72 70 68

281 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 72 70 66 73, DJ Trahan 70 67 73 71, Bob Estes 71 69 72 69, Tom Pernice Jr 69 72 70 70, Briny Baird 68 71 73 69

282 Dick Mast 74 64 69 75, Billy Mayfair 71 71 71 69, Woody Austin 67 71 73 71, Chad Campbell 67 71 73 71, John Riegger 72 68 73 69, Ben Crane 71 70 73 68, Steve Allan (Aus) 75 67 68 72, Zach Johnson 76 65 70 71, Todd Hamilton 69 71 71 71

283 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 70 72 69, Jonathan Byrd 73 69 69 72, Steve Jones (Eng) 73 69 74 67, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 69 69 72, DJ Brigman 73 69 71 70, Steve Flesch 73 69 69 72, Greg Owen (Eng) 69 73 71 70, Rob Rashell 73 67 74 69

284 Omar Uresti 70 72 70 72, Hank Kuehne 66 73 72 73, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 72 69 71 72, DA Points 71 70 71 72, Duffy Waldorf 74 68 75 67

285 Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 73 69 68 75, John Cook 72 68 71 74, Nick Watney 70 70 71 74

286 Joey Snyder III 71 71 74 70, Tom Kite 71 71 69 75, Sean O'Hair 69 71 73 73, Charles Warren 74 68 76 68

288 Dean Wilson 69 70 72 77

289 Greg Meyer 71 70 74 74

293 Paul Gow (Aus) 70 68 76 79