Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Canada’s Nick Taylor birdied the second playoff hole to defeat Colombia’s Nico Echavarria and win the Sony Open in Hawaii on Sunday for his fifth career US PGA Tour triumph. Taylor holed out a 60-foot eagle chip-in on the 72nd hole of regulation while Echavarria birdied 16 and 18 to force extra holes at Honolulu’s windy Waialae Country Club.
After trailing almost all day, Taylor then sank a clutch birdie putt on the first playoff hole and landed his third shot inside three feet on the second to set up the winning putt after Echavarria three-putted. “I’m a bit stunned this worked out this way,” Taylor said. “To be able to hit a nice pitch, unfortunate for Nico to hit a three-putt there to open the door for me, but knowing I can rise to the occasion, it’s pretty fun.”
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The 36-year-old from Winnipeg improved to 3-0 in PGA playoffs, having won his third career title with an eagle on the fourth extra hole at the 2023 Canadian Open to become the first host-nation winner since 1954. He won last year’s Phoenix Open with a birdie on the second playoff hole.
Taylor, who birdied four consecutive holes starting at eight, thought he had doomed his chances to win by missing birdie putts from about four feet at 15 and 16 only to soar on eagle’s wings. “It was a tough day,” Taylor said. “I was 1-over through seven, not really thinking about winning necessarily. Got on a birdie streak there and I missed two short putts on 15 and 16. To be able to make eagle on 18 to really have a chance, that really didn’t — I was really down after those two missed putts because I felt like it was just tricky with the wind.”
Echavarria, 30, missed out on adding to a trophy haul that included the 2023 Puerto Rico Open and the Zozo Championship three months ago in Japan. “I misjudged the lag putt on the last hole. I didn’t think it was going to be that slow. Didn’t consider the wind,” Echavarria said. “But just one bad putt can’t define a great week.”
Taylor and Echavarria each fired a five-under par 65 in the final round to finish 72 holes on 16-under 264.
– Tension-packed putts – On the first extra hole, the par-5 18th, Taylor was just shy of the green and chipped to 10 feet while Echavarria’s second shot landed just off the green and he chipped to just beyond five feet. Taylor sank his pressure-packed birdie putt and Echavarria followed by making his tension-filled birdie putt to force a second playoff hole at 18.
Taylor was again short of the green while Echavarria’s second shot clung to the back edge of the green. But Taylor chipped within three feet of the hole while Echavarria left his 39-foot eagle putt seven feet short of the hole. Echavarria’s birdie putt went right of the hole while Taylor sank his to win the trophy.
American J.J. Spaun and Germany’s Stephan Jaeger, who battled for the lead most of the day, shared third on 265, one stroke ahead of Americans Eric Cole, Jackson Suber, Adam Schenk, Patrick Fishburn, and 2025 US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley. Jaeger stumbled with a bogey at 16 after sending his tee shot out of bounds while Spaun made bogey at the par-3 17th to fall back and missed a birdie putt from just outside 10 feet on the 18th hole to miss out on the playoff.
© 2024 AFP
