Kizzire wins Sony playoff
He outlasts Hahn in six extra holes: ‘I’ll take it any way I can get it’
Patton Kizzire outlasted James Hahn in six extra holes to win the Sony Open to become the first multiple winner on the PGA Tour this season.
Kizzire, who won the OHL Classic in Mexico last fall, closed with a 2-under 68.
That turned out to be the easy part. Hahn shot 62 in the final round Sunday and got into a playoff with Kizzire at 17-under 263.
They matched two pars and two birdies on the par-5 18th in the extra holes. They matched pars when they went to the par-3 17th. It ended on the par 3 along the Pacific Ocean when Hahn putted from right of the green to about 8 feet, and his par putt caught the lip.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Kizzire said. “I’ll take it any way I can get it.”
Hahn, who won both his PGA Tour events in playoffs at Riviera and Quail Hollow, had birdie putts from 10 feet and 6 feet on the par-5 18th hole at Waialae Country Club that would have won it. He made a 6-foot birdie another time to extend the playoff.
Kizzire had to get up-and-down from a bunker for par on the first extra hole, making a 7-footer to stay Patton Kizzire reacts after making a par putt on the sixth playoff hole to beat James Hahn and win the Sony Open.
alive.
This was the longest playoff on the PGA Tour since Bryce Molder won the Frys.com Open in 2012 in eight extra holes.
It nearly was the most exciting tournament of the year (it’s only the second week) that no one saw. Union workers for video and audio production at Golf Channel events walked out Sunday over a labor dispute, and the network had to scramble to provide limited coverage. They had enough cameras to at least cover the final three holes and the entire playoff, with commentary coming from headquarters in Florida.
Missing from the playoff was Tom Hoge, who did everything right in his bid to win for the first time on the PGA Tour except for one swing. He had a one-shot lead when he was between clubs on the 16th hole, and opted to hit a draw to the back-left pin. He turned it too much and it found the bunker. His next shot got hung up in the shaggy rough, he chipped that to 12 feet and missed to make double bogey to slip one shot behind.
Hoge gave himself two good chances with putts of about 7 feet. Both burned the edge. He shot 70 and had to settle for third place, his best finish on the PGA Tour.
“This sets me up a lot better for the rest of the year, and hopefully made the FedEx Cup playoffs,” said Hoge, a 28-year-old from North Dakota who hasn’t kept his full card his previous three years on tour. “More so just the confidence I had to play in the final group and play well today.”
Champions Tour
PAREL GOES WIRE TO WIRE >> Scott Parel beat fellow PGA Tour Champions player Scott Dunlap on the first hole of a playoff to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the Diamond Resorts Invitational.
Parel won the 32-player professional division with a par on the extra hole, the 203-yard 18th at Tranquilo Golf Club. Dunlap hit a fat shot short into water and made a double bogey.