Els chalks up another tour win

HONOLULU -- In a thrilling battle that ended with an unlikely birdie, Ernie Els outlasted 21-year-old Aaron Baddeley in a playoff Sunday to win the Sony Open and become the first player in 14 years to win the first two PGA Tour events of the season.

Unlike last week at Kapalua, the Big Easy had to work hard for this one.

He appeared to be a beaten man when he missed the 353-yard 10th green to the left and chipped through the green, some 55 feet from the hole. Instead, Els rammed home the putt -- just like Tiger Woods did to him three years ago at Kapalua -- and won on the second extra hole when the Aussie's 20-foot birdie putt hung on the lip.

Els closed with a 3-under 67, while Baddeley had a 69 as both finished at 16-under 264.

With steely nerves and a game that belies his 21 years, Baddeley holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to force a playoff, made another birdie from 6 feet to continue and was in much better shape than Els on No. 10, the second playoff hole.

"I thought the kid was going to go away, but he kept at me," Els said. "Unlucky for Aaron, but he's going to win a lot of titles."

Els earned $900,000, pushing him to $1.9 million on the money list. Steve Jones in 1989 was the last player to win the opening two events on tour.

Chris DiMarco had a 66 and finished third at 14 under.

Dunhill Championship

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- England's Mark Foster made a 35-foot eagle putt on the second extra hole to win a six-man playoff in the Dunhill Championship, his first European tour title.

Foster (4-under 68) beat Scots Paul Lawrie (65) and Doug McGuigan (68) South Africans Bradford Vaughan (71), Trevor Immelman (67) and Denmark's Anders Hansen (69) in the first six-man playoff on the European tour since the 1990 Vinho Verde Atlantic Open.

The six players in the playoff finished at 15-under 273.

New Zealand Open

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- New Zealand's Mahal Pearce won the New Zealand Open for his first pro title, shooting a 2-under 70 for a two-stroke victory over Australia's Brett Rumford.

Pearce, who began the round two strokes behind Australia's Chris Downes, took a four-shot lead to the final hole, but dropped two strokes with a double-bogey 6. He finished at 10-under 278 on the Auckland Golf Club's Middlemore course.

-- From wire reports