Nico Echavarria is a winner on the PGA Tour.
Riding a final-round 68 at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, Echavarria finished at 21 under and outlasted Akshay Bhatia by two shots in the 2023 Puerto Rico Open, the first opposite-field event on the PGA Tour’s 2023 calendar.
Echavarria scored in the 60s (67-67-65-68) all four rounds. He had 22 birdies, two eagles and six bogeys over the 72 holes.
A rookie on the PGA Tour, Echavarria said he found something in his swing on the range on Friday and it clearly carried over to the weekend, as he becomes the 10th player to make the Puerto Rico Open his first career PGA Tour title.
Bhatia started the day in fifth and ended up with a solo second. It’s his best finish on Tour; he had a tie for ninth at the 2020 Safeway Open. He has two top-10s in four starts on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023.
For winning the Puerto Rico Open, Echavarria earned 300 FedEx Cup points and $684,000.
Nate Lashley and Carson Young tied for third at 16 under, five shots back. Michael Kim was solo fifth at 15 under.
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