Ernie Els became the first player in 14 years to win the first two events of the PGA Tour season, when he defeated Aaron Baddeley with an improbable birdie on the second play-off hole in the Sony Open.

Els rolled in a 55-foot putt from off the 10th green before Baddeley narrowly missed his 20-foot birdie attempt.

The pair had both birdied the par-five 18th to prolong the play-off.

Els, ranked second in the world, rallied from a two-shot deficit before winning for the second time in as many weeks.

He claimed the season-opening Mercedes Championships at Kapalua before claiming the first full-field event of the year.

The South African star, who has four PGA Tour wins in the last 10 months, became the first player since Steve Jones in 1989 to claim the opening two events of the year.

Baddeley was valiant in defeat, sinking a clutch birdie putt on the final hole of regulation to force a play-off, but came up empty in a bid for his first PGA Tour victory.

"When I got over the putt, for some reason I didn't feel nervous," said Els, who had a similar put during the final round and knew how it would break.

"I was just trying to stay alive and all of a sudden I make the putt and win. I can put 100 balls down there and not make another one.

"It's just a crazy game. So many times it's happened to me, guys have made bombs."

Baddeley admitted he was as surprised as Els.

"I don't think he was supposed to hole that putt," the 21-year-old Australian said. "I wasn't expecting it."

Els, who started the final round two strokes behind Baddeley, shot a three-under-par 67 while Baddeley carded a 69.

The pair finished two strokes ahead of American Chris DiMarco.

The South African has actually won his last three starts, after crushing a 12-man field at the 12-man Nedbank Challenge in Sun City, South Africa late last year.

His three victories have earned him a combined 3.81 million US dollars.

Collated final-round scores (USA unless stated, par 70):

264 Ernie Els (Rsa) 66 65 66 67, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 66 64 65 69

Els won at second playoff hole

266 Chris DiMarco 65 66 69 66

268 Robert Allenby (Aus) 68 69 65 66, Jerry Kelly 68 68 67 65

269 Stuart Appleby (Aus) 68 71 67 63

270 Briny Baird 68 65 67 70, Chris Riley 65 69 69 67, Joe Durant 67 69 67 67, Fred Funk 66 68 69 67, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 66 66 69 69

271 Peter Lonard 66 65 72 68, Dan Forsman 68 70 69 64, Robert Gamez 66 69 65 71

272 Tim Petrovic 68 67 68 69, Charles Howell III 70 66 68 68, Cameron Beckman 69 69 68 66, Carl Paulson 70 69 68 65, Corey Pavin 67 68 68 69

273 Pat Perez 70 70 69 64, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 64 66 72 71, Jason Gore 70 67 68 68, Loren Roberts 67 68 70 68, Vijay Singh (Fij) 67 70 68 68, Andrew Magee 71 65 68 69, David Peoples 71 69 66 67

274 Ben Crane 68 70 66 70, Yasuharu Imano (Jpn) 67 69 71 67, Taggert Ridings 70 65 69 70, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 68 69 72 65, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 69 69 66, Dudley Hart 70 68 68 68

275 Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 65 69 71 70, Steven Alker 71 66 71 67, Mark Wilson 72 66 70 67, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 70 69 69, Harrison Frazar 67 67 69 72, Jeff Sluman 68 68 67 72, Jim Furyk 67 67 70 71

276 Aaron Oberholser 70 68 69 69, John Rollins 68 69 70 69, John Cook 67 68 69 72, Tim Herron 68 66 75 67, Tom Lehman 68 70 70 68, Steve Lowery 68 69 67 72, Dicky Pride 66 71 71 68, Scott Laycock 70 70 70 66, Vance Veasey 73 67 67 69, Anthony Painter 69 66 69 72

277 Jonathan Byrd 68 70 69 70, Chad Campbell 66 70 71 70, Brian Gay 72 67 71 67, John Huston 68 69 71 69, John Maginnes 71 69 67 70, Kenny Perry 64 71 71 71

278 KJ Choi (Kor) 67 71 72 68, Jeff Brehaut 70 69 71 68

279 Andy Miller 67 72 76 64, Alexander Cejka 70 70 70 69

280 Craig Perks 68 70 72 70, Notah Begay III 70 69 73 68, Chris Smith 66 70 74 70, Esteban Toledo (Mex) 71 69 71 69, Olin Browne 69 70 69 72, Bart Bryant 72 67 72 69

281 Jeff Maggert 68 72 70 71, Shaun Micheel 69 70 72 70

282 Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 70 74 68, Brent Geiberger 70 66 75 71

283 Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 71 68 70 74, Brad Faxon 70 70 74 69

284 Chris M Anderson 70 69 72 73, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 68 71 73 72

286 Jason Buha 69 69 74 74, Akio Sadakata (Jpn) 68 72 78-68

287 JL Lewis 68 71 75 73

289 Robin Freeman 70 69 73 77