Nick Taylor is hard to beat in a playoff. Getting there was the hardest part for the Canadian, who had another series of defining moments on Sunday at the Sony Open in Hawaii. On his final shot, Taylor holed a 20-yard chip for eagle on the par-5 closing hole at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu for a 5-under 65 to force a playoff with 30-year-old Chilean Nico Echavarria.
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Nick Taylor, results
Echavarria also shot 5-under 65 to join Taylor at 16 under par (264). Behind them were Stephan Jaeger and J.J. Spaun, and the Sony Open looked like it was going to come down to them on the back nine until Jaeger sent his drive out of bounds at the 16th and Spaun bogeyed from a bunker at the 17th. Echavarra was surprised there were only two players in the playoff.
For Taylor it was his fifth PGA Tour title, the last three in a playoff, and last year he defeated Charley Hoffman in Phoenix with a decisive playoff putt. And it was at the Canadian Open in 2023 that Taylor holed the famous 23-metre eagle putt and won his home Open in front of a delirious, rain-soaked crowd.
The win sends Taylor to the Masters again, a great reward after a dismal end to last season. He has regained his world number 29 ranking and will play in all of this year's majors.
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The Rules of Golf are a set of rules and standard procedures by which the sport of golf should be played. They are jointly written and administered by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, the governing body of golf throughout the world, except in the United States and Mexico, which are governed by the United States Golf Association. An expert committee, made up of members of the R&A and the USGA, oversees and refines the Rules every four years. The latest revision was effective January 1, 2016. Changes to the Rules of Golf generally fall into two main categories: those that improve understanding of the Rules and those that reduce penalties in certain cases to ensure balance. The rulebook, entitled "The Rules of Golf," is published on a regular basis and also includes rules governing amateur status. In Italy, the Federgolf is responsible for supervising competitions by enforcing the rules issued by the R & A, checking that these rules are observed by the Clubs, Associations and their members and managing the resulting sporting justice, protecting their interests abroad.
