Nick Taylor picked up right where he left off last year, when he won the Sony Open in Hawaii, firing an 8-under-par 62 in this year’s first round Thursday to share a one-stroke lead with Kevin Roy.
Roy closed with birdie at the 18th hole. Meanwhile, Taylor was doing the same at No. 9 after starting his round on the back nine. Both had eight birdies and no bogeys.
Taylor won here in a two-hole playoff last year against Nico Echavarria (who shot 75 on Thursday) and is 3-0 in extra-hole situations to account for most of his five career PGA Tour wins. He said on Wednesday he hoped to channel that strong play to early rounds. Taylor did exactly that Thursday, especially on the par 3s. He birdied three of the four.
He said conditions were favorable, despite overnight rain.
“I think we got lucky with the forecast this morning. I expected some more wind,” Taylor said. “I hit it great, but this course fits my eye. Irons were really sharp and was able to read the greens well.”
Plenty of others remain in striking range to win what could be the final Sony Open in Hawaii. Nothing official has been announced, but a PGA Tour committee has proposed a condensed schedule that would not include the two Hawaii tournaments, possibly as soon as next year.
Don’t miss out on what’s happening!
Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It’s FREE!
Ben Griffin, Chris Gotterup and John VanDerLaan were a stroke behind Taylor and Roy after shooting 63 in the morning.
Late in the day, S.H. Kim birdied the last three holes and joined them at 7 under with the best score from the afternoon players. The leaderboard was otherwise dominated by golfers from the morning session as the winds picked up after lunch.
Alex Smalley, John Parry and Adrien Dumont de Chassart were tied for seventh, two shots off the pace at 64.
Russell Henley finished with three birdies in a row to card a 65 and the day ended with the 2013 Sony Open champion at T10 with six other players.
Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth and fellow Masters champions Zach Johnson and Vijay Singh (who are also former Sony Open winners) shot 68s in the afternoon. That put them in a huge traffic jam six shots off the lead along with Keegan Bradley, Brian Harman and 13 others going into today’s second round.
“For how difficult of a day it was I felt like I was in position to shoot 5 under or so,” Spieth said. “Felt like I just didn’t score as well, and that typically comes down to knocking putts in. It wasn’t easy when the wind was blowing, but I definitely hit a few that were a little bit rusty, for sure.”
Taylor was tied for the early lead at 5 under through nine holes and took the solo lead with a birdie on No. 2 (his 11th hole).
Roy did not start as fast, carding pars on his first two holes. But a run of five birdies in a row put him atop the leaderboard alone at 7 under after 11 holes.
“Got off to a little bit of a squirrely start. Had to make a couple par putts on the first two holes and kind of settled in after that,” Roy said. “Hit a lot of good shoots, you know, 3 through 9. Got to take advantage of the par-5s out here, which I did.”
Taylor notched his second birdie after the turn on his 16th hole, pulling him into a tie with Roy.
Gotterup joined the pack at 6 under with his seventh birdie of the round on his 16th hole (No. 7).
Griffin and Gotterup both birdied their last hole to finish the round tied for the lead at 7 under, while Taylor and Roy were still on the course.
“Really didn’t have too many stressful moments out there,” said Gotterup, who finished with eight birdies and one bogey. “Pretty clean round, and great start to the season.”
Gotterup has two PGA Tour victories: last year at the Genesis Scottish Open and the 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic. He missed the cut here last year after shooting par for the first two rounds.
VanDerLaan battled back from 2 over after four holes to also post 63. His rally started with an eagle at No. 9 and continued with five birdies on the back nine.
Smalley was the early first-round clubhouse leader with a bogey-free 64. Last year, he made the cut here for the first time in four tries and tied for 10th.
“Not really sure what it was the first three years I came out here,” said Smalley, who had five top-10 finishes last year but is still looking for his first PGA Tour win. “Then, yeah, last year I finally was able to get the monkey off my back, not only (making) the cut, but having a decent finish. Just kind of piggybacked (Thursday) off those good rounds I had last year.”
Reigning Aloha Section PGA champ Corey Kozuma shot par 70. The Mid-Pacific Country Club teaching pro birdied No. 9 but gave the stroke back with a bogey on 10.
“Just looking at it like it’s like a marathon,” Kozuma said. “Just trying not to get too overly aggressive or too frustrated on missed putts. It was a lot of just steady, make as many pars as you can, and eventually you’ll catch one or two.”
University of Hawaii golfer Anson Cabello had a rough morning and finished with a 77.
“Despite the score I had a lot of fun out there,” Cabello said. “I mean, off the first tee I hit one into the grandstands because I was kind of nervous. I just didn’t play very well off the tee. That’s the most important part about this course is making sure you find fairways. … Something to work on and something I can do a little better tomorrow.”
SCORES, TEE TIMES
SONY OPEN IN HAWAII
Purse: $9,100,000
Waialae Country Club (par 70, 7044 yards)
First Round
Kevin Roy 30-32 — 62
Nick Taylor 32-30 — 62
Chris Gotterup 32-31 — 63
Ben Griffin 32-31 — 63
Seonghyeon Kim 32-31 — 63
John VanDerLaan 33-30 — 63
Adrien Dumont de Chassart 31-33 — 64
John Parry 33-31 — 64
Alex Smalley 32-32 — 64
Nick Dunlap 31-34 — 65
Harry Hall 33-32 — 65
Russell Henley 30-35 — 65
Kurt Kitayama 32-33 — 65
Denny McCarthy 33-32 — 65
Mac Meissner 31-34 — 65
Adam Svensson 33-32 — 65
Daniel Berger 34-32 — 66
Ricky Castillo 34-32 — 66
David Ford 32-34 — 66
Brice Garnett 32-34 — 66
Emiliano Grillo 33-33 — 66
Takumi Kanaya 31-35 — 66
Jake Knapp 33-33 — 66
Hao-Tong Li 35-31 — 66
Maverick McNealy 34-32 — 66
Chandler Phillips 32-34 — 66
Patrick Rodgers 34-32 — 66
J.J. Spaun 34-32 — 66
Eric Cole 33-34 — 67
Austin Eckroat 34-33 — 67
Kensei Hirata 33-34 — 67
Michael Kim 32-35 — 67
Robert MacIntyre 35-32 — 67
Matt McCarty 35-32 — 67
Seamus Power 34-33 — 67
Davis Riley 37-30 — 67
Adam Scott 34-33 — 67
Danny Walker 31-36 — 67
Vince Whaley 35-32 — 67
Sudarshan Yellamaraju 32-35 — 67
Zac Blair 35-33 — 68
Keegan Bradley 33-35 — 68
Pierceson Coody 35-33 — 68
Cam Davis 35-33 — 68
Zecheng Dou 34-34 — 68
Brian Harman 34-34 — 68
Joe Highsmith 33-35 — 68
Zach Johnson 36-32 — 68
Johnny Keefer 33-35 — 68
Seungtaek Lee 32-36 — 68
Max McGreevy 33-35 — 68
Matthieu Pavon 35-33 — 68
Adrien Saddier 35-33 — 68
Vijay Singh 34-34 — 68
Jordan Smith 36-32 — 68
Jordan Spieth 34-34 — 68
Erik Van Rooyen 34-34 — 68
Ren Yonezawa 34-34 — 68
Jacob Bridgeman 33-36 — 69
Luke Clanton 37-32 — 69
Ryan Gerard 35-34 — 69
Doug Ghim 36-33 — 69
Rico Hoey 34-35 — 69
Tom Hoge 33-36 — 69
Billy Horschel 36-33 — 69
Beau Hossler 35-34 — 69
Mark Hubbard 34-35 — 69
Kota Kaneko 34-35 — 69
Si Woo Kim 38-31 — 69
Tom Kim 35-34 — 69
Chris Kirk 36-33 — 69
Hideki Matsuyama 34-35 — 69
Taylor Pendrith 36-33 — 69
Aaron Rai 34-35 — 69
Chad Ramey 35-34 — 69
Sam Stevens 37-32 — 69
Yuta Sugiura 35-34 — 69
Alejandro Tosti 37-32 — 69
Dylan Wu 33-36 — 69
Daniel Brown 36-34 — 70
Rafael Campos 36-34 — 70
Davis Chatfield 34-36 — 70
Corey Conners 35-35 — 70
Steven Fisk 37-33 — 70
Lee Hodges 36-34 — 70
Patton Kizzire 33-37 — 70
Corey Kozuma 34-36 — 70
William Mouw 36-34 — 70
Matti Schmid 36-34 — 70
Webb Simpson 37-33 — 70
Gary Woodland 34-36 — 70
Zach Bauchou 37-34 — 71
Bud Cauley 36-35 — 71
Kazuki Higa 35-36 — 71
Ryo Hisatsune 36-35 — 71
Hank Lebioda 36-35 — 71
Keith Mitchell 36-35 — 71
Keita Nakajima 36-35 — 71
Adam Schenk 36-35 — 71
Austin Smotherman 35-36 — 71
A.J. Ewart 36-36 — 72
Emilio Gonzalez 40-32 — 72
Collin Morikawa 35-37 — 72
Marcelo Rozo 36-37 — 73
Isaiah Salinda 35-38 — 73
Gordon Sargent 39-34 — 73
Sahith Theegala 34-39 — 73
Chandler Blanchet 37-37 — 74
Brian Campbell 36-38 — 74
Jeffrey Kang 36-38 — 74
Pontus Nyholm 41-33 — 74
Michael Brennan 41-34 — 75
Nico Echavarria 39-36 — 75
Tony Finau 35-40 — 75
Peter Malnati 37-38 — 75
Taisei Nagasaki 34-41 — 75
Kristoffer Reitan 39-36 — 75
Christo Lamprecht 37-39 — 76
Neal Shipley 35-41 — 76
Anson Cabello 37-40 — 77
Today’s tee times
FIRST TEE
7:10 a.m.—Adam Svensson,Chad Ramey,
Vince Whaley
7:21 a.m.—Eric Cole, Zac Blair, Dylan Wu
7:32 a.m.—Rafael Campos, Zach Johnson,
Beau Hossler
7:43 a.m.—Joe Highsmith, Nico Echavarria,
Davis Riley
7:54 a.m.—Ryan Gerard, Chris Kirk, Vijay
Singh
8:05 a.m.—Matt McCarty, Billy Horschel,
Jake Knapp
8:16 a.m.—Austin Smotherman, Adrien
Saddier, Chandler Blanchet
8:27 a.m.—Adrien Dumont de Chassart,
Davis Chatfield, Sudarshan Yellamaraju
8:38 a.m.—Isaiah Salinda, Dan Brown,
Keita Nakajima
8:49 a.m.—Christo Lamprecht, Emilio Gonzalez, Ren Yonezawa
11:40 a.m.—Austin Eckroat, Peter Malnati,
Keith Mitchell
11:51 a.m.—Matthieu Pavon, Sam Stevens, Matti Schmid
12:02 p.m.—Sahith Theegala, Seamus
Power, Kristoffer Reitan
12:13 p.m.—J.J. Spaun, Collin Morikawa,
Adam Scott
12:24 p.m.—Ben Griffin, Chris Gotterup,
Russell Henley
12:35 p.m.—Nick Taylor, Aaron Rai, Robert
MacIntyre
12:46 p.m.—Ryo Hisatsune, Danny Walker,
David Ford
12:57 p.m.—Chandler Phillips, John Parry,
S.T. Lee
1:08 p.m.—Alejandro Tosti, Takumi Kanaya,
Kota Kaneko
1:19 p.m.—Zecheng Dou, Pontus Nyholm,
Anson Cabello (a)
10TH TEE
7:10 a.m.—Lee Hodges, Tom Hoge, Hank
Lebioda
7:21 a.m.—Patrick Rodgers, Bud Cauley,
Mark Hubbard
7:32 a.m.—Daniel Berger, Webb Simpson,
Doug Ghim
7:43 a.m.—Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth
7:54 a.m.—Michael Brennan, Tony Finau,
Johnny Keefer
8:05 a.m.—Brian Harman, Maverick McNealy, Si Woo Kim
8:16 a.m.—S.H. Kim, Mac Meissner, Luke
Clanton
8:27 a.m.—Max McGreevy, Jordan Smith,
A.J. Ewart
8:38 a.m.—Neal Shipley, Jeffrey Kang, Taisei Nagasaki (a)
8:49 a.m.—Zach Bauchou, Marcelo Rozo,
Kazuki Higa
11:40 a.m.—Brice Garnett, Michael Kim,
Jacob Bridgeman
11:51 a.m.—Erik van Rooyen, Gary Woodland, Alex Smalley
12:02 p.m.—Tom Kim, Emiliano Grillo,
Denny McCarthy
12:13 p.m.—Kurt Kitayama, Cam Davis,
Taylor Pendrith
12:24 p.m.—Brian Campbell, Harry Hall,
Corey Conners
12:35 p.m.—Adam Schenk, Steven Fisk,
William Mouw
12:46 p.m.—Patton Kizzire, Nick Dunlap,
Rico Hoey
12:57 p.m.—Pierceson Coody, Kevin Roy,
Haotong Li
1:08 p.m.—Ricky Castillo, Kensei Hirata,
Corey Kozuma
1:19 p.m.—John VanDerLaan, Gordon Sargent, Yuta Sugiura
