Nick Taylor claimed another dramatic victory on the PGA Tour, pitching in Eagle play to force a playoff en route to victory over Nico Echavarría. At the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Canadian Taylor never looked like a winner at Waialae Country Club after missing two short-handed chances at the end of the first half, but he has scored from the green in his final five and posted a five-under 65 to jump into the club lead.
Echavarria produced a brilliant putt for birdie on the 18th to match Taylor's 65 and also reach 16 under, as Steven Geiger and JJ Spaun each finished one shot outside of the playoff in third.
Nico Echavarria (left) and Nick Taylor participated in the playoff
Taylor had to hole a 10-foot birdie putt to match Echavarría and keep the playoff alive, before going up and down the green to make a birdie on the second overtime playoff and secure victory when his opponent was tied at three.
The victory is Taylor's fifth on the PGA Tour and third straight win via a playoff, following the RBC Canadian Open in 2023 and the WM Phoenix Open last season, with the latest success also securing him an invitation to The Masters in April. .
Taylor tops thriller at Sony Open
It had previously looked like a battle between Jaeger and Spaun to determine the winner, as Jaeger holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 14th to catch Spaun while the American holed out from a similar distance to salvage par and stay tied for the lead.
Geiger hit his putt out of bounds on the 16th and had to make a 20-footer just to scramble for bogey, while Spawn missed a 10-foot birdie chance on the same hole and then bogeyed the next hole when he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker.
Meanwhile, Echavarría birdied a 15-foot putt on the 15th, a 12-foot birdie putt on the 16th, saved a par putt from a bunker on the 17th and then hit a stunning putt across the 18th for birdie to get up. -Down for the bird.
Nick Taylor finished the week at 16 before taking the win on the second playoff hole
Taylor looked like he wasted his chances by missing a pair of four-foot birdie putts and staying behind twice, only to make the final eagle in dramatic fashion, while Spawn failed to convert a birdie putt on the fifth to join the play. -off Jaeger also had to settle for a shutdown level.
“I was a little shocked that it was done this way,” Taylor said. “I got over seven, and I had a birdie streak there. It's always pretty bunched up here, but I did a really good job every day by really staying in there. And fortunately for me, really good things happened at the end.”
Eric Cole was fifth and Ryder Cup leader Keegan Bradley was in the group tied for sixth, while England's Harry Hall was 10th after being under 69 points on Sunday. Hideki Matsuyama, who won with a PGA Tour record at 35 under par last week at Kapalua, closed with a 66 and finished in a tie for 16th.
What's next?
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