After Fabian Gomez tapped in the last of 11 birdies on Sunday, the question remained.
Even after a remarkable surge in the middle of his round and holing two pressure-packed putts on the last two holes of regulation, had the Argentinian done enough to earn his first Sony Open in Hawaii victory?
“I lived close, right by the golf course. And even though I played soccer, I had sort of an attraction toward the golf. And at some stage of life, 14, 15 years old, I saw I was pretty good at it, so I just kept going with that.”
Fabian Gomez
Winner of the 2016 Sony Open in Hawaii, speaking through a translator
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The answer came a few seconds after Brandt Snedeker stroked his downhill putt from just inside 10 feet on Waialae Country Club’s 18th green in the second hole of a playoff.
Si.
Snedeker, needing the birdie putt to drop to extend the match, saw his effort slide by, giving Gomez the dramatic victory in the first playoff at Waialae since Ernie Els outlasted Harrison Frazar in 2004.
Growing up in Argentina, Gomez earned money growing up caddying at a nearby course starting when he was 8 until late into his teen years and made a little extra playing with his fellow caddies.
“I learned how to behave, be patient and all that kind of stuff,” Gomez said through an interpreter. “I actually learned playing with the other caddies. They would go out there and make more money, but you have to learn no matter what because you have to win.”
The lessons paid off handsomely for the 37-year-old, who earned $1,044,000 this week while becoming the first international player to win the Sony Open since K.J. Choi took home the winner’s check in 2008.
Gomez entered the final round four strokes behind the co-leaders, Snedeker and Zac Blair, and blazed to the lead with an astounding run of seven straight birdies in the middle of his round. He recovered from back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14 to tie for the lead again with a birdie from just inside 11 feet on the par-3 17th.
He then holed a 22-foot putt for birdie on 18 to finish his round of 8-under-par 62 and take a one-shot lead at 20 under.
Blair, who spent much of the afternoon in the lead, had a 10-foot eagle putt to tie on No. 18. But it stayed high to end his run at his first PGA Tour title at 19 under following his 67 on Sunday.
“I played well, hit a lot of fairways and greens the first three days,” Blair said. “Today, wasn’t hitting it quite like I did the first three days. Made a few good putts, but just didn’t make the six- to 12-footers as many as I should have.”
As for the last putt, “I was pretty excited with about a foot to go.”
Snedeker, who had taken the lead at 19 under with a 3-foot birdie on 16, chipped to 4 feet below the hole on 18 and made his putt to match Gomez at 20 under and end regulation with a round of 4-under 66.
Gomez and Snedeker went back to the 18th tee, scrambled their way to the green from the fairway rough to set up 11-foot birdie putts. But both refused to fall.
“Frustrating because I knew I was playing well and did play well today. I just didn’t make the putts I needed to make to win a golf tournament,” said Snedeker, who had at least a share of the lead after each of the four rounds this week. “I had a chance obviously in regulation. On 17, I had a good look there and didn’t hit a great putt. Then on the first playoff hole, leaving that putt short is going to probably sting tonight and tomorrow.”
Playing 18 for a third time, Gomez found the middle of the fairway with a hybrid while Snedeker again drove through the dogleg into a fairway bunker with what he called “probably the worst swing of the week.”
His second shot came up well short in the fairway while Gomez’s approach ran up to the edge of the green, 29 feet from the win.
“I was walking on the way back to the second playoff hole and I said to my caddie, ‘I’m going to try with a hybrid this time, but we just need to put the ball in play,’ ” Gomez said.
Snedeker’s wedge took a hop and checked up 9 feet, 9 inches above the hole and Gomez’s two-putt gave him his second victory on tour.
He won the FedEx St. Jude Classic last June to earn a spot in the Hyundai Tournament of Championships and tied for sixth at Kapalua last week. His previous best at Waialae was a tie for 67th in 2013 and he didn’t make it to Sunday in a three-round appearance last year.
In conditions that remained conducive to low scores all weekend, Gomez began the tournament with a 69 that left him in a tie for 68th. He climbed to 16th with a 64 on Friday and was alone in fifth following a third-round 65.
He made his charge into the lead with his iron play setting up the seven-hole birdie run. He made a putt from 12 feet on No. 6 to start the surge and dropped three more from at least 8 feet.
“I don’t remember seven in a row,” Gomez said. “I definitely don’t recall something like that. Maybe four or five but not seven.”
The run ended with a bogey on 13 and he gave back another stroke on 14. Even so, “I never actually had a doubt about it, about myself or my swing,” he said.
“But I knew I needed to make birdies coming in. I knew it was going to be really low to get it done, and I sort of let that go away and kept going.”
Unlike Jimmy Walker’s nine-shot rout last year, there would be no runaway this time around. There were five players tied for the lead early in the afternoon with Webb Simpson and Si Woo Kim joining Snedeker, Blair and Kevin Kisner at the top.
Simpson promptly dropped back and Kim couldn’t get the birdies to drop late on the back nine and finished fourth at 16 under. Kisner, playing in the final group, fell back with a double bogey on No. 8, but still had a chance to close to within a shot on No. 15. But a lip-out from a little more than a foot out effectively ended his contention.
