Nick Taylor’s flair for the dramatic came in handy again.
After spending most of Sunday afternoon in the background at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Taylor earned his fifth PGA Tour victory with a birdie on the second extra hole to beat Nico Echavarria after both J.J. Spaun and Stephan Jaeger faltered at the end.
Taylor will be forever remembered for his playoff victory in the RBC Canadian Open in 2023, becoming the first Canadian citizen to win his national championship since 1954, holing a 72-foot eagle putt to win.
His victory at Waialae Country Club had its own unforgettable moment as Taylor pitched in from 59 feet for an eagle on the 72nd hole to finish at 16-under-par 264.
Taylor then birdied the par-5 18th twice in the playoff to beat Echavarria, who missed a six-foot putt to extend the playoff.
“Yeah, I’m a bit stunned this worked out this way.”
Nick Taylor
Until the theatrics on the 18th hole, Taylor seemed to have cost himself a shot to win, missing putts inside five feet on the 15th and 16th holes.
“To be able to make eagle on 18 to have a chance, I really didn’t – I was a little down after the two missed putts. It was just tricky with the wind,” Taylor said.
After winning the WM Phoenix Open in a playoff last February, Taylor did not finish inside the top 10 (aside from a T10 at the Zurich Classic team event) the rest of the year.
“It was a tough six or seven months,” said Taylor, who failed to make the International side for the Presidents Cup in his home country.
The most surprising part of Sunday’s final round was the fact that neither Spaun nor Jaeger even made it to the playoff considering they were the central characters over the closing holes until they were done in by their own mistakes.
Spaun, chasing his second PGA Tour victory, led by one on the tee at the par-3 17th but a sloppy bogey flipped the script because of the dramatic finishes by Echavarria and Taylor at the par-5 finishing hole.
Jaeger made his critical mistake at the 16th, where he hit his tee shot out of bounds, leading to a bogey that dropped him one behind Spaun at the time.
Both Jaeger and Spaun came to the relatively easy 18th needing a birdie to join the playoff but poor tee shots put both players out of the position and unable to make a birdie.
“This course is really tricky for me. I hate working the ball right to left off the tee. I never choose to unless I really have to, which you really have to do around here,” Spaun said.
“I’m proud that I was able to, like, hang in there and give myself a chance feeling as uncomfortable as I did off the tee around this place.”
Ron Green Jr.
