Nick Taylor claimed his fifth PGA Tour win after a playoff against Nico Echavarria following a fascinating final round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
It was JJ Spaun who began the day with a one-shot lead over Stephan Jaeger, Patrick Fishburn and Eric Cole.
For so long, it looked like the title would come down to either him or Jaeger as the pair jostled for supremacy punctuated by some extraordinary putting as the likes of Taylor and Echavarria remained in the shadows.
Spaun set the tone with a stunning birdie from 29 feet on the third to take him two ahead of the German, but Jaeger responded with a 16-foot birdie on the fifth. On the sixth, Jaeger did it again, this time from 20 feet, although Spaun’s short birdie putt maintained his one-shot advantage. Spaun resumed his putting masterclass on the eighth from 20 feet for his third birdie of the day. Jaeger then birdied the same hole to remain one behind.
Meanwhile, at the turn, Taylor was one-under for the day after three birdies and two bogeys to sit four off the pace, while Echavarria recovered from successive bogeys on the opening two holes to respond with four birdies by the 10th to stand three off the summit.
Further back, Spaun and Jaeger's rounds continued blemish-free, with successive pars until the 14th, when this time from over 30 feet, another birdie from Jaeger moved him to 16-under. That left Spaun facing a putt from a similar distance to save par. He holed it to stay bogey-free for the round as the two refused to give an inch.
Birdie from Jaeger, par save from Spaun 💪The two are tied at the top with four to play @SonyOpenHawaii. pic.twitter.com/99umrX4Am5January 12, 2025
All the while, Taylor and Echavarria remained in contention. Taylor was helped by successive birdies on the 10th and 11th while Echavarria completed his fifth birdie in six holes at the 12th. Keegan Bradley and Eric Cole, who was in the final group with Spaun and Jaeger, were also in the hunt.
On the par-4 16th, Spaun appeared to have a decisive chance after Jaeger settled for bogey thanks to a wild tee shot that went out of bounds. Jaeger did well to limit the damage with an up and down from 17 feet. That dropped him back to 15-under with Echavarria before Spaun missed his birdie attempt to give him a one-shot lead with two to play.
Little did anyone know events were about to take a decisive turn. After staying in touch throughout the day, Taylor looked to have passed up his chance after missing short birdie putts on the 15th and 16th. However, on the 18th he produced a brilliant chip-in eagle from behind the green from almost 60 feet as he evoked memories of his monster winning putt that defeated Tommy Fleetwood in a playoff in the 2023 RBC Canadian Open.
A chip-in eagle to tie the lead!@NTaylorGolf59 comes up clutch at the last @SonyOpenHawaii. pic.twitter.com/tNeTa9xQKMJanuary 13, 2025
Taylor's latest moment of magic saw him back in the clubhouse level with Spaun at 16-under. Echavarria then finished with his seventh birdie of the day as he also joined the top of the leaderboard. Spaun faced a par putt from 15 feet on the 17th to remain tied and fell short, giving him his first bogey of the day at the worst possible time to join Jaeger one behind.
Suddenly, Spaun and Jaeger were up against it, with either needing a birdie to force a playoff with Taylor and Echavarria, or an eagle to win it. It didn't work out, as they each made par to leave Taylor and Echavarria to battle for the title in extra holes.
Back at the 18th, they each produced solid putts for birdie, first from Taylor, then from Echavarria, ensuring we went to a second extra hole. Taylor then found a bunker from his tee shot on the 18th to hand the advantage to his opponent, but the Canadian fought back with a beautiful third shot from right of the green to within three feet for birdie. Echavarria, meanwhile, faced a birdie putt from almost seven feet.
Echavarria missed his birdie putt right, but Taylor made no mistake to claim his third playoff victory in a row and the first since last February's WM Phoenix Open.
Afterwards, Taylor admitted he thought his chance of victory had passed him by. He said: "To hit two great shots in there on 15 and 16 and miss those, if you'd ask me in that moment I thought my chances of winning were pretty low."
He also reflected on his stunning eagle on the 18th that dragged him back into contention, adding: "You know, the chip-in on 18 was awesome. In that situation I think was - all I was thinking was hole it. I felt like par or birdie wasn't going to change a whole lot with Nico having a birdie chance there."
