Nick Taylor beat Nico Echavarria in a playoff to capture the Sony Open on Sunday in Hawaii. Both players were already into the next two signature events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational, via the Aon Next 10, which was finalized for those two events at the end of last fall.
Led by Maverick McNealy, Nos. 61-70 in last season’s final FedExCup points standings punched their tickets to Pebble and Genesis. After those events, the PGA Tour will draw from the current FedExCup standings for its Next 10, which will be comprised of the top 10 players in points who didn’t crack the top 50 last year.
But there is another avenue into those next two big-money tournaments: the Aon Swing 5.
The top five point-getters from the Sony Open, this week’s American Express and next week’s Farmers Insurance Open will be exempt into Pebble and Genesis as well.
Here is where things stand after Sony:
1. J.J. Spaun
2. Patrick Fishburn
2. Adam Schenk
2. Jackson Suber
5. Harry Hall
5. Lee Hodges
5. Paul Peterson
5. Jesper Svensson
“Proud of how I battled all day,” said Spaun, who led Sony after 54 holes before dropping to T-3. “Hung in there with Stephan [Jaeger, also T-3] and Nico and Nick putting the pressure on. Unfortunately didn’t go my way there at the end. You know, it is what it is. Hopefully I use this momentum going into the rest of the west coast.”
Webb Simpson, Alex Smalley and Gary Woodland are about 15 points behind that tie for fifth.
