Argentina’s Fabian Gomez birdied the second playoff hole on Sunday to beat Brandt Snedeker for the PGA Tour Sony Open in Hawaii title.
Gomez blistered the par-70 Waialea Country Club Course for a final-round 62 and a 20-under total of 260.
His round included seven birdies in a row from the sixth through the 12th. He shook off momentum sapping bogeys at 13 and 14 to birdie the final two holes.
Gomez was in at 20-under when Snedeker, who shared a one-shot overnight lead with Zac Blair, carded his fifth birdie of the day at the par-five 18th to cap a four-under 66 and force the playoff.
After both parred the first playoff hole — the 18th — they returned to the 18th tee for the second hole of the decider.
Gomez two-putted from the front of the green for birdie, collecting the second PGA Tour title of his career when Snedeker just missed his birdie chance from 10 feet.
“I’m really, really happy,” he said. “It’s my second victory on Tour. I felt good all week long and was able to put on a great round today.”
He kept his cool after back-to-back bogeys, and with his confidence restored by a 10-foot birdie putt at 17 calmly drained a 22-footer from off the green at the final hole of regulation.
“I knew I needed to make birdies coming in,” he said. “I sort of let [the bogeys] go away and kept going.”
Gomez teared up talking about the recent death of his caddie Adrian Monteros’ father, adding: “This win is in his name.”
He improved to 55th in the world rankings, closing in on a berth at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
“I’m really excited about being able to get in the Olympics,” he said.
Snedeker, whose trademark putting touch was in evidence all week — until the playoff — said that coming up short on his 12-footer on the first playoff hole was “going to sting.”
“Obviously disappointed,” the seven-time Tour winner said. “I had some good looks coming down the stretch and uncharacteristically I hit some pretty weak putts.”
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