A decision to change his club on the par-five 18th on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff helped make the difference for Fabian Gomez as he secured his second-career PGA Tour victory at the 2016 Sony Open. Gomez produced a solid effort from start to finish but all of the talk after the event was about how his decision on that hole made the difference in helping him to outlast Brandt Snedeker for the victory in the end.
Born in Chaco, Argentina, Gomez came out of relatively nowhere to win this event. Very few people betting the Sony Open had him in their picks and even fewer used him as an option in daily fantasy. This now marks his second-ever win on the PGA Tour, although he has one win on the Web.com Tour as well. He’s now moved up to fifth in the FecEx Cup standings. Here’s a look at how things win down in Hawaii:
Tournament Recap
The 37-year-old Gomez had gone 0-for-4 when it came to finding the short grass on that hole throughout the week, so it makes sense that he would want to shake things up heading in to that winner-take-all opportunity on the 18th at the Waialae Country Club. He missed the fairway on the extra hole as well but his shot proved to be good enough after Snedeker left his birdie putt to win short. Gomez found the short grass and was able to reach the green in two in order to two-putt birdie for the win. A lot of felt that Snedeker let one get away but at any rate, Gomez’ performance surprised everybody – especially his impressive final score of 20-under 260.
Biggest Surprise
The biggest surprise from the weekend had to be the play of 25-year-old Zac Blair, who only narrowly missed out on being a participant in that playoff round. Blair was 280 yards from the pin on the par-five 18th when he hit a shot that stopped rolling 10 feet away from the hole and it looked like he would have the opportunity to join Gomez and Snedeker in the final round for a shot at the win but he missed the putt and ultimately fell just short of extending his tournament. However, Blair’s solo third-place finish is still his best-ever finish on the PGA Tour and the only thing that would have been more surprising would be if he had managed to make it to the playoff and contended for the victory in that extra round. Graham DeLaet was another pleasant surprise as he posted a 14-under-266 for the tournament while Zach Johnson was right behind him with a 13-under-267 to tie for ninth at this year’s Sony Open.
Biggest Disappointment
It might make more sense to call out Padraig Harrington or Tony Finau for registering disappointing results despite their statuses as strong sleeper plays for this year’s Sony Open but when it all comes down to it those that bet on Snedeker had to be the most disappointed after he teased them by reaching the playoff and then delivering his worst shot when it mattered the most on that 18th hole. Snedeker’s shot landed in the bunker and after he was forced to follow it up with a wedge to 10 feet he missed the birdie putt that would have extended the playoff. Snedeker called it his “worst swing of the week” and it had to sting those that had put their money down on him to win the tournament, therefore making him the biggest disappointment at this year’s Sony Open.
The other major disappointment was Jimmy Walker, who entered the 2016 Sony Open as the 14/1 favorite to win the event. He was the only golfer who was inside of 20/1 to win the event and the reason for that is because he had won in Hawaii two straight years and some thought he’d be able to take home the trophy a third straight year. Instead, he finished outside of the Top 10 in a tie for 13th with a final score of -12.
Final Scores
- Fabian Gomez -20
- Brandt Snedeker -20
- Zac Blair -19
- Si Woon Kim -16
- Greg Owen -16
- Kevin Kisner -15
- Jamie Lovemark -14
- Graham DeLaet -14
- Zach Johnson -13
- Jerry Kelly -13
