Just four months to the day since being put on a stretcher and taken to hospital by helicopter, David Toms has become a US Tour winner again.

The 39-year-old, whose heart was racing at 170 beats per minute leading to surgery in November to correct the problem, said after capturing the Sony Classic by five shots on Sunday: "I've come a long way since that day in Pennsylvania."

Closing rounds of 61 - the lowest of his US Tour career - and 65 sent Toms to his 12th tour victory and virtually guaranteed him a third Ryder Cup cap, at the K Club near Dublin in September.

He now lies third on the American points table behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and he commented: "This year there was a sense of urgency because I really want to make the team.

"I think (Tom) Lehman is going to be a heck of a captain.

"It's going to be a great event over there and something that I desperately want to be a part of.

"I needed to get off to a good start, so I didn't have all that pressure on me towards the summer or end of the summer. This helps a lot towards that goal."

Tied with 2004 team-mate Chad Campbell with a round to go - they were seven clear of the field - Toms sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the first and was never caught.

Toms was diagnosed last autumn with supraventricular tachycardia, a condition that had caused his heart to race numerous times in the past few years, but never as severely as during the first round of the Lumber Classic.

The helicopter came to the course to speed up his transfer to hospital, but after the situation was stabilised he amazingly played in the following week's Presidents Cup and helped the United States win.

In November doctors performed a five-hour operation to correct nerves in the heart that were misfiring.

"When I started winning tournaments it felt good, but I wouldn't say it was everything to me," he added. "Now it is.

"It's what I want to do. I think you have to really, really want to do it before it's going to happen. I'm getting older and I have to get it now when I can."

It was his first success since his brilliant display to win the Accenture World Match Play in San Diego last February.