Duval serves notice of return to form

Those who doubted whether David Duval could ever become a force in the world game again were given something to think about here on Sunday. The 34-year-old American, whose career fell totally to pieces after he had become the world No 1 and then winner of the 2001 Open Championship, finished the Sony Open with a seven-under-par 63, his lowest round since June 2003, to leap 51 places up the leaderboard and land in a tie for 31st.

Duval birdied six of his first 10 holes, five of them in a row from the sixth, and added another on the 16th. While this effort came too late to give him any hope of catching David Toms it served notice that Duval is finally finding his game.

Toms ran away in the final round, three months after he had a heart scare which led to surgery. He started in a tie with fellow American Chad Campbell but shot a 65 to finish on 19-under with Campbell and Rory Sabbatini in second, five strokes in arrears.