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PGA Tour rookie Nico Echavarria posted a final round 4-under 68 at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, to win the 2023 Puerto Rico Open, beating Akshay Bhatia by a two-stroke margin.
With his maiden PGA Tour victory, Echavarria joined Sebastian Munoz and Camilo Villegas to become the third Colombian to win on the Tour.
On Sunday, the Colombian hit 6 birdies and just two bogeys. Akshay Bhatia, who plays on the Korn Ferry Tour, carded a 7-under 65 to settle for a solo runner-up finish.
Echavarria played great golf in all four rounds with the scores in the 60s (67-67-65-68) on all four days. Overall, he holed 22 birdies, two eagles, and six bogeys over the course of four days at Grand Reserve Golf Club.
Prior to the tournament, the 28-year-old was not very optimistic about his performance, let alone winning it. He failed to make a cut in his last two tournaments before Puerto Rico, Honda Classic, and AT&T Pro-am. Thankfully, he found his rhythm in Friday's practice session just before the first round.
“You just don’t think it’s going to get better until things like this week clicks," said Echavarria. "If I wouldn’t have had that practice session on Friday afternoon very late and found what I found, I don’t think I would be here because it cleared my mind up. I was thinking too many things. I was on a bad spot mentally before coming to this week.”
A win at the Puerto Rico Open has earned Echavarria 300 FedEx Cup points and, $684,000 a spot in the Players Championship next week.
Bhatia started the day in fifth position but his impressive final-round showing took him to the second position, his best finish on the PGA Tour. He carded four straight birdies on the last four holes to end the day with 7-under 65.
Bhatia concluded his 72 holes score at 19 under with 26 birdies, 5 bogeys, and a lone double bogey. He earned $414,200 for his second-place finish.
"I don’t know. It’s going to be a lot of emotion," said an emotional Bhatia after his performance. "I know my dad’s going to really cry, which I’ve only seen him do one time.”
Nate Lashley and Carson Young finished T-3 at 16 under and Michael Kim ended the event with fifth place at 15 under.
Puerto Rico Open leaderboard
Here's the leaderboard for the 2023 Puerto Rico Open:
Position Name Score
1 Nico Echavarria -21
2 Akshay Bhatia -19
T3 Nate Lashley -16
T3 Carson Young -16
5 Michael Kim -15
6 Wesley Bryan -14
T7 Cody Gribble -13
T7 Harry Higgs -13
T7 J. VanDerLaan -13
T7 Harry Hall -13
T11 Geoff Ogilvy -12
T11 Bill Haas -12
T11 Estanislao 'Tano' Goya -12
T11 Ryan Gerard -12
T15 Augusto Núñez -11
T15 Henrik Norlander -11
T15 Chris Stroud -11
T15 Kevin Chappell -11
T15 Grayson Murray -11
T15 Sam Stevens -11
