Two shots behind with two holes to play, Cameron Smith made an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole to force a playoff against a faltering Brendan Steele, and won the rain-soaked Sony Open with a two-putt par from 10 feet on the first extra hole Sunday in Honolulu.
Steele had a three-shot lead when he holed a bunker shot for birdie on the 11th, and he never trailed until he fell apart at the end. He missed a 6-foot par putt on the 17th, and then hit a wild hook from the fairway on the par-5 18th and never had a reasonable look at birdie.
On the 10th hole for the playoff, Steele was in ideal position in the fairway, 88 yards from the hole, when he hit wedge over the green. He chipped off the mud and wet grass to 15 feet and missed the par putt. Smith, who had driven into right rough, chased his shot to 10 feet.
"Just had to hang in there. No one was playing good golf today, it seemed like," Smith said after a 68. "Just hung in there, and what do you know?"
Smith and Steele finished at 11-under 269, the highest winning score at the Sony in 15 years.
"Everything that could go wrong went wrong today," Steele said. He closed with a 71.
NFL
Jimmy Johnson headed to Canton
Jimmy Johnson, who coached the Dallas Cowboys to two Super Bowl championships in the 1990s, has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The hall announced his selection Sunday night as part of a centennial class that was chosen Wednesday by a committee. Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher was revealed Saturday night as the other coach being inducted.
"The only thing I can think of is all the assistant coaches who worked for me, all the great players who played for me are the reason," said a teary-eyed Johnson, 76. "I can't talk.
