Nick Taylor delivered one other dramatic PGA Tour victory, chipping in for eagle to power a play-off on his strategy to victory over Nico Echavarria.on the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Canada’s Taylor by no means seemed like a winner at Waialae Nation Membership after lacking two quick birdie probabilities down the closing stretch, solely to chip in from off the inexperienced on the par-five final and submit a five-under 65 to leap into the clubhouse lead.
Echavarria produced an ideal bunker shot for a tap-in birdie on the 18th to match Taylor’s 65 and in addition attain 16 underneath, with Stephen Jaeger and JJ Spaun each ending one shot outdoors of the play-off in tied-third.
Nico Echavarria (left) and Nick Taylor had been concerned within the play-off
Taylor needed to gap a 10-foot birdie to match Echavarria and preserve the play-off alive, earlier than getting up and down from off the inexperienced to birdie the second additional play-off and safe victory when his opponent three-putted for par.
Victory is Taylor’s fifth on the PGA Tour and a 3rd consecutive win by way of a play-off, following on from the RBC Canadian Open in 2023 and the WM Phoenix Open final season, with the most recent success additionally securing him an invitation to The Masters this April.
Taylor edges Sony Open thriller
It had beforehand seemed a battle between Jaeger and Spaun to determine the winner, with Jaeger holing a 30-foot birdie on the 14th to catch Spaun because the American holed from the same distance to save lots of par and keep tied for the lead.
Jaeger hit his tee shot out of bounds on the sixteenth and needed to make a 20-footer simply to scramble a bogey, whereas Spaun missed a 10-foot birdie likelihood on the identical gap after which bogeyed the following when he did not stand up and down from a greenside bunker.
On the identical time, Echavarria made a 15-foot par save on the fifteenth, a 12-foot birdie on the sixteenth, saved par from a bunker on the seventeenth after which hit a splendid bunker shot throughout the 18th birdie to get up-and-down for birdie.
Nick Taylor ended the week on 16 underneath earlier than claiming victory on the second play-off gap
Taylor seemed like he had misplaced his probabilities by lacking a pair of four-foot birdie putts and staying two behind, solely to eagle the final in dramatic trend, whereas Spaun did not convert a birdie putt on the par-five final to hitch the play-off and Jaeger additionally needed to accept a closing par.
“I’m a bit stunned this worked out this way,” Taylor stated. “I was one over through seven, got on a birdie streak there. It’s always so bunched here, but I did a really good job every day really of just hanging in there. Fortunate for me, really good things happened at the end.”
Eric Cole completed fifth and Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley was within the group tied-sixth, with England’s Harry Corridor in tied-tenth after a one-under 69 on Sunday. Hideki Matsuyama, who gained with a PGA Tour file 35-under par final week at Kapalua, closed with a 66 and completed tied for sixteenth.
What’s subsequent?
The PGA Tour season strikes to California for the American Categorical, held on the Pete Dye Stadium Course at La Quinta. Early protection begins on Thursday from 4.30pm on Sky Sports activities Golf forward of full protection from 9pm. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, majors and extra with NOW.
