Four months to the day since being put on a stretcher and taken to hospital by helicopter, David Toms has become a US Tour winner again.

The 39-year-old, whose heart was racing at 170 beats per minute leading to surgery in November to correct the problem, said after capturing the Sony Classic by five shots in Hawaii: "I've come a long way since that day in Pennsylvania."

Closing rounds of 61 - the lowest of his US Tour career - and 65 sent Toms to his 12th tour victory and virtually guaranteed him a third Ryder Cup cap, at the K Club near Dublin in September.

He now lies third on the American points table behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and he commented: "This year there was a sense of urgency because I really want to make the team.

"I think (Tom) Lehman is going to be a heck of a captain. It's going to be a great event over there and something that I desperately want to be a part of.

"I needed to get off to a good start so I didn't have all that pressure on me towards the summer or end of the summer. This helps a lot towards that goal."

Tied with 2004 team-mate Chad Campbell with a round to go - they were seven clear of the field - Toms sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the first and was never caught.

He finished on the 19-under-par mark of 261, while Campbell, who had to wait until the short 17th for his only birdie of the day, was caught in second place by a 62 from South African Rory Sabbatini.

World number two and defending champion Vijay Singh came sixth and leading European in joint 10th spot was Swede Carl Pettersson.

Toms was diagnosed last autumn with supraventricular tachycardia, a condition that had caused his heart to race numerous times in the past few years, but never as severely as during the first round of the Lumber Classic.

The helicopter came to the course to speed up his transfer to hospital, but after the situation was stabilised amazingly he played in the following week's Presidents Cup and helped the United States win.

In November doctors performed a five-hour operation to correct nerves in the heart that were misfiring.

"When I started winning tournaments it felt good, but I wouldn't say it was everything to me," he added. "Now it is.

"It's what I want to do. I think you have to really, really want to do it before it's going to happen. I'm getting older and I have to get it now when I can."

It was his first success since his brilliant display to win the Accenture World Match Play in San Diego last February.

The other big story of the final day in Honolulu was the return to form of David Duval. On paper 31st position does not sound special, but it was achieved with a closing 63 and it represented his best finish since September 2004.

The 34-year-old, whose career fell totally to pieces after he had become world number one and then winner of the 2001 Open championship, could have matched the second-best score of his entire US Tour career, but missed a seven-foot birdie chance on the last.

Last year Duval made only one halfway cut in 20 starts on the circuit, did not break par in any event until October and finished a wretched 260th on the money list.

But there was a hint of a change in fortunes in Japan in November when he led the Dunlop Phoenix with an opening 64 and eventually finished seventh.

Collated final scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Sony Open in Hawaii, Waialae CC, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA:

(USA unless stated, par 70):

261 David Toms 66 69 61 65

266 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 65 72 67 62, Chad Campbell 67 67 62 70

268 Bubba Watson 67 70 66 65

269 Nathan Green (Aus) 70 70 65 64

271 Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 69 65 66

272 Jim Furyk 67 67 70 68, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 70 66 69 67, Charles Warren 66 74 64 68

273 J.B.' Holmes 70 66 69 68, Stewart Cink 71 69 66 67, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 68 68 66

274 Jerry Kelly 68 69 69 68, KJ Choi (Kor) 66 71 68 69, Shane Bertsch 70 70 63 71

275 Jerry Smith 69 67 69 70, Tom Byrum 68 71 68 68

276 Brent Geiberger 68 73 65 70, Mark Calcavecchia 70 69 68 69, Steve Jones 69 68 68 71, Loren Roberts 69 68 71 68, Dudley Hart 69 68 69 70, Adam Scott (Aus) 71 69 70 66

277 Robert Gamez 70 69 66 72, Jeff Overton 72 71 66 68, Jason Bohn 70 72 65 70, Billy Mayfair 70 70 70 67, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 69 71 70 67, John Riegger 72 71 68 66, Arron Oberholser 70 71 68 68

278 Troy Matteson 72 69 71 66, David Duval 75 68 72 63, Ronald Whittaker 73 68 66 71, Chris Riley 76 66 68 68, Tommy Armour III 68 74 64 72

279 Jeff Gove 66 71 70 72, Vaughn Taylor 67 72 68 72, Rich Beem 71 69 71 68, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 72 71 69 67, David Branshaw 71 68 71 69, Peter Lonard (Aus) 67 70 68 74

280 Jonathan Kaye 73 68 71 68, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 72 70 68 70, Bo Van Pelt 70 73 69 68, Carlos Franco (Par) 70 71 67 72, Tom Lehman 71 71 66 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 72 64 73 71, Joe Ogilvie 71 72 66 71, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 76 65 70 69, Fred Funk 68 71 72 69, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 70 69 69 72, Will MacKenzie 69 70 68 73

281 Paul Goydos 69 70 74 68, Craig Barlow 73 70 68 70, Charles Howell III 71 72 68 70, Joe Durant 71 72 68 70, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 70 71 69, Jeff Maggert 69 72 68 72

282 Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 70 73 67 72, Hunter Mahan 71 68 75 68, Paul Azinger 69 72 70 71, Parker McLachlin 72 71 65 74, Roger Tambellini 69 73 67 73, Thomas Levet (Fra) 71 72 70 69, Jon Mills (Can) 69 72 73 68, Todd Fischer 73 67 69 73, Jay Haas 75 66 70 71

283 Alex Cejka (Ger) 76 67 68 72, Michael Allen 72 69 71 71

284 Brad Faxon 71 70 71 72, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 72 71 69 72

285 Patrick Sheehan 71 71 72 71, Olin Browne 71 70 67 77, Woody Austin 74 68 71 72, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 73 70 69 73, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 69 72 69 75, Vance Veazey 70 69 72 74, Bubba Dickerson 72 71 70 72, Bill Haas 71 71 72 71

287 Kaname Yokoo (Jpn) 72 71 71 73

288 Jeff Sluman 67 73 73 75

293 James Driscoll 67 74 73 79

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