Nick Taylor Wins the 2025 Sony Open in Hawaii With a Chip-In and Another Playoff Escape

Nick Taylor has turned the playoff into a personal address. Two behind with one hole to play, Taylor chipped in for eagle on the par-5 18th at Waialae, then beat Nico Echavarria on the second extra hole to win the Sony Open in Hawaii on Sunday.

Taylor and Echavarria both shot 5-under 65 to finish regulation at 16-under 264. J.J. Spaun, the 54-hole leader, and Stephan Jaeger tied for third at 15 under, one shot out of the playoff after both stumbled late. It is Taylor's fifth PGA TOUR title, and the last three have all come in playoffs.

"I'm a bit stunned this worked out this way," Taylor said.

The Chip That Changed Everything

For most of Sunday afternoon, Taylor looked like a nice story that would finish a couple of shots short. The Canadian was 1 over through seven holes before finding a gear. "I was one over through seven, got on a birdie streak there," Taylor said.

Even the birdie run came with leaks. Taylor missed two short birdie chances on the back nine, both from inside 5 feet, the kind of misses that usually end a week at Waialae. Instead, Taylor stood behind the 18th green needing something special and holed a chip from roughly 60 feet for eagle to jump to 16 under. That finish capped a 6-under stretch over the final 11 holes of regulation.

Taylor credited patience as much as anything. "It's always so bunched here, but I did a really good job every day really of just hanging in there," Taylor said. "Fortunate for me, really good things happened at the end."

Echavarria Answers

Echavarria had a chance to steal it outright and nearly did. The Colombian opened the final round with two bogeys, then scrambled through a demanding closing stretch: a 15-foot par save on 15, a 12-foot birdie on 16 and a bunker save on 17. On 18, Echavarria blasted out of a greenside bunker to tap-in range for birdie, matching Taylor at 16 under and forcing extra holes.

Both players returned to the par-5 18th for the playoff, and both delivered on the first trip. Taylor rolled in a birdie putt of about 10 feet, and Echavarria answered from about 5 and a half feet, per Reuters.

Playoff Hole No. 2

The second trip down 18 turned on a wedge. Taylor drove into a fairway bunker, laid up to 46 yards and hit a pitch that landed on the front of the green and released to just inside 3 feet. Echavarria, just off the back of the green, had a 40-foot eagle putt that came up 7 feet short. The birdie putt missed, and Taylor tapped in for the win.

It was a cruel finish for a player who won the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP last fall and played the final round about as well as anyone. "One bad putt can't define a great week," Echavarria said, per Reuters.

Spaun and Jaeger Let One Slip

For much of the back nine, this looked like a two-man fight between the 54-hole leader and the player who shot 62 on Saturday. Jaeger holed a 30-foot birdie on 14 to catch Spaun at the top. Then both played the final three holes in 1 over, per the PGA TOUR.

Jaeger's damage came on 16, where the tee shot sailed so far left it was presumed out of bounds. Jaeger made bogey with a provisional, and on 18 a 3-wood failed to clear a bunker, leading to a par from the rough. "The one on 16 I would like to have back," Jaeger said. "Wrong hole to hit that shot." Jaeger shot 67.

Spaun's chances slipped one hole later. After missing a 10-foot birdie try on 16 that would have created a cushion, Spaun made bogey from a bunker on the par-3 17th, then missed the fairway right on 18 and could not convert a 10-foot birdie putt that would have reached 16 under. Spaun closed with a 68.

Who Else Hung Around

Fifteen players started the day within three shots, but only four were in the picture at the end. Eric Cole, a co-leader on Thursday, finished alone in fifth at 14 under. Jackson Suber, Adam Schenk, Patrick Fishburn and U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley tied for sixth at 13 under. Hideki Matsuyama closed with a 66 and finished in a tie for 16th at 11 under, ending the bid for a Hawaii sweep a week after a record 35-under win at The Sentry.

Why This One Matters

The win puts Taylor back in the Masters and the PGA Championship and sets up starts in the 2025 Signature Events, per the PGA TOUR. It also moved Taylor back inside the top 30 of the Official World Golf Ranking. That is a big swing after a quiet stretch: Taylor had not posted a top 10 in an individual event since winning the WM Phoenix Open last February, and was left off the International Team for the Presidents Cup.

The playoff résumé is now absurd. A 70-foot eagle putt to win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open at home. Clutch putting to win in Phoenix in 2024. And now a chip-in to force overtime and a 46-yard pitch to close it. Taylor ranked fourth in the field in strokes gained on approach shots for the week, but the shots that won it came from much closer in.

The West Coast Swing starts next, and Taylor heads there with a trophy, a Masters invitation and a reputation nobody wants to see in a playoff.

Revisit the week in our Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 recaps. Final scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's final-round story (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (final-round story, Wire to Wire and leaderboard), AP, Reuters, Sky Sports, Official World Golf Ranking. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.