Nick Taylor knows how to drive clutch. The Canadian who is now 3-0 in playoffs can chip and putt in the highest-leverage situations, too.
He outlasted Nico Echavarria of Colombia on Sunday, winning the Sony Open in Hawaii on the second extra hole at Waialae Country Club.
You can call it a small sample size, or you can say two might be a coincidence but three’s a trend. Either way more than half of Taylor’s five PGA Tour victories have come via playoff.
“I think I enjoy being in those moments. For whatever reason my mind gets clear in those situations of the shot I’m just trying to hit,” Taylor said. “It’s kind of like a match-play situation. I feel like I’ve always enjoyed match play when I was growing up and had success as well just trying to hit each shot at hand.
“I’ve worked on that the last couple years of why in those situations am I good and other situations where I am not consistent if I’m in 30th or something,” he added. “We will work on that, but (this is a) nice start to the year obviously.”
The most clutch shot Sunday was the one that got him into the playoff. After pars on Nos. 16 and 17 seemingly knocked him out of contention, Taylor chipped in for eagle on No. 18 to get to 16 under, and a tie for first with J.J. Spaun, who still had two holes left.
“In that situation … all I was thinking was hole it,” Taylor said. “I felt like par or birdie wasn’t going to change a whole lot with Nico having a birdie chance there.”
And that’s what happened; Echavarria was clutch, too, hitting his third shot out of a bunker to set up a 3-foot birdie that made it a three-way tie, for the moment.
Third-round leader Spaun and Stephan Jaeger were locked in at first and second most of the final round, and tied at 16 under after 15 holes. Both needed birdie on No. 18 to join Taylor and Echavarria in a playoff or an eagle to win. Neither did it, falling victim to stray drives and other calamities.
Jaeger’s tee shot at No. 16 was lost to the left, but he managed bogey with a nice provisional drive and a 15-foot putt. Still, Spaun regained the solo lead when he barely missed a 12-footer for birdie.
But Echavarria and Taylor did what they needed to at No. 18 to get to the clubhouse with a chance for at least a playoff.
Taylor clinched it with a 2 1/2 foot birdie on the second playoff hole (No. 18), after Echavarria missed a 7-foot birdie try. This came after they matched birdies on the first playoff hole, also No. 18. Taylor’s was from 10 feet, after Echavarria made his from 5.
Echavarria was in better position after the first two shots on both playoff holes, but Taylor turned the tables.
“The last three years (at Waialae) have been great,” said Taylor, who tied for seventh here in 2023 and 2024. “I felt like this has been a course that I really started to enjoy. I see the lines really well on the greens. I’ve played them in the nine years probably in every winds condition possible, so really no surprises anymore. I had confidence coming into this week. Last week (at The Sentry on Maui), that’s one course on Tour where I’m confused how low they shoot, so I felt like my game was pretty good and I wasn’t overly concerned with only beating eight guys last week. I knew I was coming to a course that I felt like matched my game a little better.”
Echavarria has two PGA Tour wins. This was his third Sony Open; he tied for 12th here in 2023 and 66th last year.
He and Taylor both started the final round at 11 under, tied for third two shots back. Both shot 5-under par 65 after making clutch shots on the final hole of regulation.
“This course is tricky,” Echavarria said. “The previous two years I’ve noticed that the leader doesn’t go away with it. It’s a course that everyone gets bunched up. I had a number on my head coming into the last round. It was 16 under. After starting bogey-bogey I was pretty far from shooting 16-under. I didn’t miss many shots coming down the stretch, and there we are.”
Echavarria later birdied four in a row, from No. 7 through No. 10, putting him at 14 under and two shots off the lead. His birdie on No. 16 put him one shot behind the leaders.
Taylor started a birdie streak on the eighth hole and when it ended after No. 11, he was tied for third at 14 under.
Spaun made the turn at 32 with three birdies to move to 16 under. Jaeger, who shot 62 on Saturday and started Sunday tied for second, also shot 3 under on the front nine to keep pace.
Spaun and Jaeger both scrambled for pars on the first four holes of the back nine. Then Jaeger birdied No. 14 to tie Spaun, who responded immediately with a 28-footer for par to remain tied.
When Jaeger’s tee shot on 16 went MIA, it was the start of Spaun playing the last three holes in 1 over par and Jaeger in 2 over, opening the door for Taylor and Echavarria.
“Obviously disappointed to finish this way. 5-3-5 on this golf course is a tough finish,” Jaeger said. “So you learn from it and we’ll come back stronger.”
Spaun, who finished tied for third with Jaeger at 15 under, expressed similar sentiments.
“Proud of how I battled all day,” Spaun said. “Hung in there with Stephan and Nico and Nick putting the pressure on. Unfortunately didn’t go my way there at the end.”
Hideki Matsuyama, who won last week at The Sentry on Maui in record-breaking fashion, shot 66 to finish the tournament at 11 under.
Kaimuki High alumnus Chan Kim shot 2-under par Sunday to finish at 6 under. He got off to a good start with three birdies on the front nine. Kim bogeyed back-to-back holes after the turn, but finished with a birdie on his final hole.
