NICK TAYLOR WINS ANOTHER PLAYOFF IN THE SONY OPEN

Nick Taylor in a playoff is tough to beat. Getting there was the hardest part for the Canadian, who delivered another highlight reel of clutch moments in the Sony Open. Down to his last shot, Taylor chipped in from 60 feet for an eagle on the par-5 closing hole at...

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Nick Taylor in a playoff is tough to beat. Getting there was the hardest part for the Canadian, who delivered another highlight reel of clutch moments in the Sony Open. Down to his last shot, Taylor chipped in from 60 feet for an eagle on the par-5 closing hole at Waialae for a 5-under 65 to get into a playoff with Nico Echavarria. He holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole. And then he hit a wedge from 46 yards that was close to perfect to set up a 3-foot birdie putt for the win. The last shot might have been the easiest shot he had in the final hour. “I'm a bit stunned this worked out this way,” Taylor said.

That was true for so many others, starting with Echavarria, the 30-year-old Chilean who delivered some big moments of his own with a 15-foot par save, a 12-foot birdie, and twice getting up-and-down from the bunker at the end for a 65 to join Taylor at 16-under 264.

Behind them were Stephan Jaeger and J.J. Spaun, and the Sony Open looked to come down to them along the back nine until Jaeger piped a drive out-of-bounds on the 16th, and Spaun bogeyed from a bunker on the 17th. Both failed to birdie the par-5 18th to join the playoff. Echavarria was surprised it was only a twoman playoff. “If Nick doesn't chip in, I win the tournament,” he said.