Nick Taylor wins another playoff with a clutch game on the 18th hole at the Sony Open

HONOLULU — Canada’s Nick Taylor produced another dramatic finish Sunday, this time bogeying the 18th hole to move into a playoff at the Sony Open and win with a great pitch that set up a birdie to beat Nico Echavarria.

Taylor never looked like a winner at Waialae, especially after missing two short birdie chances down the stretch. That all changed so suddenly when his eagle chip from 60 feet on the par-5 closed the hole for a 5-under 65.

Echavarria joined him with a great bunker shot for a tap-in birdie on the 18th and 65. They finished at 16-under 264.

Taylor has five PGA Tour titles and has won the last three in a playoff. He had to hole a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th on the first playoff hole to stay alive.

Playing the 18th again, Taylor left the fairway bunker 46 yards short of the cup. His pitch was close to perfect, landing on the front of the green and rolling with the grain and wind to just 3 feet.

Echavarria was just a collar on the back of the green, but his 40-foot eagle putt was 7 feet short and he missed the birdie putt.

“I’m a little surprised it turned out this way,” Taylor said with a smile.

So does Echavarria, who won in Japan last fall and finished one shot behind at Sea Island late last year. His approach on the 18th on the first playoff hole looked to be about 20 feet off the tee until the wind pushed him off the green and into the rough.

“I misjudged the lag putt on the last hole. I didn’t think it would be so slow. “I didn’t take the wind into account,” Echavarria said. “The wind kind of withstood it and my lag today was a little less, which is my strength. But, I mean, just one bad shot can’t define a great week.”

The win sends Taylor back to the Masters, which is a big plus after a dismal end to last season. Last year, he won the Phoenix Open with clutch playoff runs. His best playoff victory came at home in the 2023 Canadian Open when he hit a 70-foot eagle putt.

Stephan Jaeger and JJ Spaun both left Waialae with many regrets. From the moment they turned it looked like a duel between them to decide the winner and until the last three holes they put on a great show.

Jaeger birdied a 30-foot putt on the 14th to catch Spaun, who then made par from just 30 feet to stay tied for the lead.

Jaeger didn’t hit a fairway on the back nine except for an iron off the 15th tee, and it finally caught up to him at the end. He hit a driver to cut off the 16th, but it went so far left that it was never found, which was assumed to be out of bounds.

“The one at 16 that I would like to have back. Wrong hole to hit,” Jaeger said.

Jaeger did well to bogey the provisional ball to stay just one behind – Spaun missed a 10-foot birdie putt that would have given him a cushion. And then Spaun bogeyed the 17th.

All the while, Echavarria and Taylor came together in incredible ways. Echavarria made a pair of saves at the 15-foot 15th, a 12-foot birdie at the 16th, saved a par from the bunker at the 17th, then hit a great bunker shot over the 18th to get up-and-down for birdie.

Taylor looked to have lost his chances as he missed a pair of 4-foot birdie putts. He fell two behind when he holed his 60-foot chip for eagle on the 18th hole.

Jaeger and Spaun needed a birdie on the closing par-5 hole to join the playoff. Jaeger hit a 3-wood off the tee and didn’t clear the bunker, and his second shot hit the lip and left him in the rough some 178 yards. He drove over the green and made par for a 67.

Spaun from the 18th fairway missed to the right, the worst spot because the wedge was cut to the right with the wind at his back. He did well to get to 10 feet, then missed the birdie putt and shot 68.

On a day when 15 players were three shots adrift at the start, those four were the only ones to seriously threaten at the end.

Hideki Matsuyama, who won with a PGA Tour record 35 under last week at Kapalua, closed with a 66 to finish at 11 under and tie for 16th in his bid to become just the third player to sweep Hawaii.