Palmer pins down a victory

The back-nine duel between Ryan Palmer and Robert Allenby in the final round of the Sony Open in Honolulu yesterday made for compelling theater. It reached a crescendo on the 18th green when Palmer hit a 50-foot chip shot that hit the pin and left him with a tap-in for birdie and a one-shot victory.

Oldgolfdawg was glued to the tube watching the way Palmer and Allenby jockeyed for position as the day's final pairing made the turn and headed for the clubhouse. On a scale of 1 to 5 dog biscuits, Oldgolfdawg would throw it a solid 4. If the drama would have unfolded in a bigger event, it would have earned an additional half biscuit.

After Allenby hit a fabulous sand shot to birdie No. 9 and Palmer could only manage a par on Waialae Country Club's easiest hole, it looked like the wheels were beginning to come off for the eventual winner. Palmer proceeded to bogey No. 11 after hitting into a trap but matched a birdie putt by Allenby on No. 12 to maintain a one-shot lead at 14 under.

The jockeying continued over the last six holes, but Palmer answered each challenge mounted by Allenby. Tied at 14 under coming to the par-5 18th, Palmer and Allenby each had a reasonable shot at getting up-and-down for birdie after missing the green with their second shots. Allenby hit through the green and pitched to just inside 10 feet. Palmer came up short of the green and faced a delicate uphill chip against the grain.

Palmer feared his chip was hit a little too hard, and he tumbled backward in relief when the ball struck the pin squarely. Allenby missed his birdie putt, and Palmer tapped in for a 4-under-par 66 and his third career PGA Tour victory.

“Lucky bounce,” Palmer said. “It was probably going to go by 7 or 8 feet. I still hit a good chip. You need things like that to win.”

Palmer, a 33-year-old Texan trying to bounce back from a disappointing 2009 season in which he finished 150th on the money list, earned exempt status on the PGA Tour through 2012 with the victory. It also earned him a trip to the Masters for the first time in five years.

Allenby, an Australian who won the Nedbank Challenge on the Sunshine Tour and the Australian PGA Championship on the Australasian PGA Tour at the end of last year, closed with a 67.

“I had a couple of chances out there,” Allenby said. “It’s so easy to look back and say, ‘I could have made that, I could have made that.’ But at the end of the day, realistically, I needed to make a birdie at the last.”

Steve Stricker, the highest-ranked player in the first full-field event of the year, shared the lead briefly on the back nine, and had a 65 to finish third, two strokes back. He was done in down the stretch by a few uncharacteristically loose shots.