Palmer seals the deal

Ryan Palmer battled all day long with Robert Allenby at the Sony Open. Both golfers played their "A" game, but it was Palmer who finally took the trophy home. Besides, this result secured him a spot in this year's Masters which will mark his return to the season's first major after being absent since 2005.

Palmer had to wait 1 year and 2 months to grab his 3rd PGA win. Prior to this one he claimed the Ginn sur Mer Classic.

After 3 rounds Allenby and Palmer were tied for the lead, which turned into a very exciting Sunday. Even when nothing was written yet, one thing was clear, both were playing fantastic golf and it wasn't going to be easy.

Allenby started steady with some mistakes in the front nine, which finally cost him the tournament. Meanwhile Palmer was having issues with his putting and shot par-par-birdie-bogey-birdie in his first 5 holes. Then, on the back nine, he went into a lot of trouble and left Allenby a great opportunity to take the lead, after scoring birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie from 10 to 14 while Robert managed to sink a key birdie putt on 15.

The tourney went down to 18, where Palmer couldn't reach the green in 2, but had a brilliant chip that hit the pin, leaving him a tap in for birdie. Allenby didn't have the same luck and passed the green, finally the Australian couldn't convert his 10 foot birdie chance and left the course 1 shot behind the Texan who will play with an exempt card until 2012 thanks to his win.