Aloha means hello or goodbye but with many people on the eastern seaboard of the United States falling asleep Sunday night, Patton Kizzire said “Aloha” to his second PGA Tour victory.
James Hahn thought he might end up a birdie short as he walked off the 18th hole at Waialae with a par but still put 62 on the scoreboard and watched as Tom Hoge led the Sony Open at 18-under par with just three holes to play. “And they’re not hard holes,” Hahn pointed out. “Optimistic,” he said when asked if he should hang around a while.
Hoge held the 54-hole lead and worked his way to 18-under par but then came a double-bogey dumpster dive at the par four 16th. From the middle of the fairway, Hoge found the left greenside bunker, his third barely made it out, settled into some greenside rough. His fourth went 12 feet past the hole and he missed his bogey putt.
That left Kizzire at 17 and Hahn finished at 17. But Hoge still could have won. He missed a nine-footer for birdie at the par three 17th then another from eight feet at the 18th. Kizzire’s par-par finish set up the playoff with Hahn.
Then came what looked like the never-ending playoff…….they danced and danced and danced some more.
The duo went up and down 18 twice — a par-par, birdie-birdie standoff. Then over to 17 for a par-par standoff. Up and down 18 two more times for a birdie-birdie, par-par standoff.
Finally back to 17 where Hahn finally flinched. His tee shot was just a bit off line and he left himself a difficult up-and-down for par. He would miss from eight feet, Kizzire two-putted from the fringe and after 25 holes on Sunday, became the first two-time winner of the 2017-18 season.
“Today was a battle,” the FedEx Cup points leader said after his win. “It was a wild week, a wild day, that playoff was a marathon.”
Aloha.
