Nick Taylor's heroics earn him playoff win at Sony Open | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing
January, 12th, 2025

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week, the PGA Tour continued its opening drive in Hawaii after making the short trip from Maui to Honolulu for the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club.

Sony Open - Tournament History

Established in 1965, the Sony Open has been a PGA Tour staple for a long time. Originally, the event was sponsored by United Airlines before Sony took over as the title sponsor in 1999, a partnership that still stands today. Much of the discussion heading into the Sony Open typically surrounds how different Waialae is from Kapalua, where a chunk of the field played the week prior. Unlike Kapalua, Waialae is home to tight fairways, small greens, and overall a much shorter and more compact track. The focus this week for the players leans much more on accuracy off the tee and short game, allowing many of the shorter hitting players a great chance to pick up a title. 

Fans and players alike arrive at the 2025 Sony Open with a heavy heart and a new perspective. Last season, Grayson Murray won the Sony Open in dramatic fashion, holing a 40-foot birdie putt in a playoff to beat Keegan Bradley and Ben An. The victory was Murray’s first since 2017, and his struggles between wins both on and off the course were well documented. Off the course, he struggled with mental health issues and alcohol abuse for much of his career. On May 25, 2024, Murray’s parents confirmed that the 31-year-old had passed away at his home in Florida. Friends, family, and fellow tour players have all echoed the same sentiment that Murray was caring, compassionate, humble, and most of all –- he loved people. Prior to the start of the  2025 Sony Open, his parents started the Grayson Murray Foundation as a tribute to his legacy, and as a resource to help others dealing with mental health issues get the help they need. 

The previous five winners of the Sony Open are as follows: 
2025 - Nick Taylor (-16)
2024 - Grayson Murray (-17)
2023 - Si-Woo Kim (-18)
2022 - Hideki Matsuyama (-22)
2021 - Kevin Na (-21) 

The Big Swing 

This week the big swing belongs to the Canadian Nick Taylor. He opened his season last week at Kapalua where he struggled, finishing in 48th place. Heading to Waialae, Taylor, who excels on and around the greens, hoped the shorter course would play more to his strengths. 

He seemed much more comfortable on Thursday after shooting a 4-under 66, and followed the solid start with a Friday 68 to make the weekend comfortably. At the top of the leaderboard, it was Denny McCarthy and Patrick Fishburn who had both gotten it to 10-under. The pair were amongst many in contention that are still seeking their first wins on the PGA Tour. Other contenders consisted of familiar names like Keegan Bradley and Russell Henley, as well as some up-and-comers like Eric Cole, Stephan Jaeger, Harry Hall, and Nico Echavarria. 

As the weekend began, we saw many players make their move on Saturday. Bradley was amongst these players, making eight birdies on his way to a 6-under 64 to surge up the leaderboard and give himself a chance on Sunday. It has been well documented that Bradley’s goal this year is to play his way onto the U.S Ryder Cup team where he is slated to serve as the captain. The player that made the biggest move on Saturday was Stephan Jaeger, who earned his first tour victory last season at the Texas Children’s Houston Open in a Sunday dual with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, a huge accomplishment in its own right. Jaeger shot the round of the tournament Saturday, making nine birdies alongside just one bogey to card an 8-under 62. The impressive round got him within one of the new leader JJ Spaun, who shot a third-round 65 to take a one-shot lead. 

The Sony seemingly always ends with drama and a tight race to the finish, with this year being no exception. Heading into the final round, there were nine players within two shots of Spaun’s 13-under pace. As the final round began, a host of players began stacking up at the 11-13 under number. 

With a jam packed leaderboard, the final group was off and it was Spaun who looked the most comfortable early. Spaun opened with a bogey free 32 on the front nine, taking his lead to the final nine holes. At this point, other players from a couple groups behind began making their move. Specifically, Taylor and Echavarria, who were playing two groups behind the leaders. 

After going long in two on 18, Taylor sank an electric chip-in Eagle to get it to 16-under, which was enough for a one-shot lead for the time being. The eagle was reminiscent of his 70-foot walk-off eagle he made at the Canadian Open a couple years ago to beat Tommy Fleetwood on the fourth playoff hole. Meanwhile, Echavarria hit an exquisite bunker shot to kick in range for birdie, also getting him to 16-under. 

It was now up to the final group, with Spaun and Jaeger at 15-under on the 18th tee, both with a chance to either eagle for the win, or birdie and get into a playoff. Unfortunately, neither was able to make birdie and ultimately ended up falling one shot short. 

On the first playoff hole, Taylor and Echavarria both played the 18th beautifully, carding matching birdies. The second time around, Taylor found the bunker off the tee while Echavarria was in the fairway. Taylor’s approach came up well short of the green, opening the door for Echavarria, who hit an awesome shot that ended up trickling just off the putting surface and into the greenside rough. With Echavarria in a solid position, Taylor delivered a beauty of a third shot, a pitch that settled within three feet of the cup. Echavarria’s third had just gotten a lot more difficult, now knowing he had to get it up and down. As the pitch shot rolled out about seven feet past the hole and he was unable to convert the birdie putt, the stage was set for Taylor. 

Like he usually does, Taylor poured it in the middle and claimed a victory on the PGA Tour for three consecutive seasons. The victory also marks his fifth on the PGA Tour, and his last three wins now have all come in playoffs in dramatic fashion. 

Winner’s Bag - Nick Taylor 

Canadian Nick Taylor picked up his fifth PGA Tour title this weekend at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii. Taylor is one of the more unique cases on the PGA Tour in that he is currently an equipment free agent and is trying out clubs from a variety of manufacturers, although he has played TaylorMade most of his career. At the top of the bag, Taylor is gaming the Titleist TSi3 driver (10 degrees) which is now two generations old behind the TSR and GT series. His 3-wood is a Taylormade Qi10 (15 degrees), but his 5-wood is a Taylormade SIM2 Max (18 degrees), also a few generations old. Taylor also carries a hybrid, the Titleist TSR2 (21 degrees). His iron set is pretty straight forward, a 4-9 configuration of Titleist T100s, one of the more popular iron sets on tour. Powering his great wedge game is a pair of Titleist Vokey SM10s (46 & 54 degrees), and a Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks lob wedge (58 degrees). On the greens, Taylor rolls a Taylormade Spider Tour Red, which he has played for a long time.

Key Stats

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee- 30th

Strokes Gained: Approach to Green- 4th

Strokes Gained: Around the Green- 17th 

Strokes Gained: Putting- 23rd

Strokes Gained: Total- T1