PGA Tour : The Sony Open Results
My headline Sunday morning " Will it be Taylor at the Sony?"..... late last night here in EST that question was answered emphatically if not unexpectedly.
Standing on the 18th tee Nick was two shots off the lead, minutes later he was in the rough behind the 18th green.
I wrote all last week that his record on Waialae CC was very good T7 T7 T11 in his last 3 appearances. However Nick had not been playing well at all since winning the Phoenix Open last February. He wasn't driving it well and wasn't putting well, a fatal combination.
He told us in hindsight he began pressing to get into the Presidents Cup, putting captain Mike Weir in a tough position, having to make what he called " the worst call I had to make" when he told Nick he wasn't in.
At the Sentry while the field scoring average was 67.3 he opened with 73 73, near the bottom of the select field, but he improved over the weekend with 68,69 buoyed somewhat I'm sure on the short flight from Maui to Oahu.
Come Sunday he was one of 15 players within 3 shots of the lead, leading me to suggest a playoff was imminent.
Then the golfing God entered the picture. JJ Spaun and Stephen Jaeger were passing the lead back and forth, while Nick was going backwards at +1 through 7 holes. Suddenly 4 straight birdies from 8-11, with some stellar iron play leaving all 4 putts inside 10 feet to vault him right into contention.
Just as quickly he missed 2 shorties for birdie at 15, 16, " If you asked me at that moment I'd say my chances were pretty low"
Enter the golfing God again as he stood surveying his chip behind the 18th, which he promptly holed for an eagle 3 from 60 feet for a 65 to tie for the lead at -16. His playing partner Nico Echavarria made a tap in birdie from the bunker to join him
They had to wait while Spaun and Jaeger squandered their chances with late bogey's, both needed to birdie 18 to join the playoff, both made pars.
Both Taylor and Echavarria made birdies on the first playoff hole but Nick stuck his approach on the 2nd within 4 feet and made the putt while Nico obliged taking 3 putts to get down from the fringe at 40 feet.
It was Taylor's 5th win, he has won in 3 consecutive seasons, all in playoffs including that memorable 70 foot putt to win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open.
Now this why winning is so important besides over $1.5 million. He now qualifies for the remaining 7 signature events, the Masters the PGA Championship and into 29th in owgr from 73rd and 2nd in the Fed Ex Cup, wiping out all that mediocre play in one stroke !
Veteran Canadian Richard Zokol commented " his greatest strength is he never loses his composure."
Taylor summed his week up " I did a great job of hanging in there all week"
Other Canadians
Adam Svensson T30 70 69 65 67 -9 $52,137
Taylor Pendrith T45 69 66 69 69 -7 $24,381
Adam Hadwin T59 65 71 69 70 -5 $19,314
Ben Silverman 69th 69 68 71 69 -3 $18,009
Note. This week is the American Express at La Quinta (the old Bob Hope) where I will remind you Adam Hadwin shot 59 in 2017 and between 2016 -19 he was 2nd twice and no worse that T6, so you know he and the family have this week in the California desert circled in red.
Also Hideki Matsuyama finished T16 -11 in his bid for the Hawaiian double.
Bryan Angus
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