JACKSON, Omit. — Luke Listing gained when he least anticipated it, coming into a five-way playoff Sunday within the Sanderson Farms Championship and finishing it briefly with a birdie putt from simply inside of 45 ft for his 2nd profession PGA Excursion victory.
The playoff don’t have been imaginable if now not for Ben Griffin suffering i’m sick the stretch on the Nation Membership of Jackson. Griffin neglected an 8-foot par putt at the ultimate hollow.
That gave a probability to Listing, Swedish sensation Ludvig Åberg, Henrik Norlander and Scott Stallings, all of whom returned to the par-4 18th hollow along Griffin. None regarded to have an affordable birdie probability till Listing poured in his putt and slammed his fist in party.
Listing closed with a 2-under 70 and neglected a birdie probability from simply inside of 10 ft at the ultimate hollow, giving freely his cap to a fan as a result of he figured that will be the latter hollow he performed.
“It’s been a full roller coaster,” Listing mentioned. “I hung in there. I didn’t think it was going to be enough, but here we are. It’s been a crazy 20 minutes.”
Griffin had a birdie putt within the playoff from about 35 ft and slapped his left knee when he learned it used to be taking to omit at the low facet. This used to be his match to win, origination with a three-shot govern and nonetheless important via two pictures with 3 holes to play games.
However he went from the best tough to lengthy and proper of the sixteenth inexperienced, chipping to a couple 20 ft and lacking the putt to whisk bogey. Nonetheless with a one-shot govern, he used to be within the left tough when he pulled his way to the 18th hollow similar the grandstands. He chipped 8 ft via the outlet and his par putt for his first PGA Excursion win grazed the best fringe of the cup.
“I hit the wrong shot at the wrong time,” Griffin mentioned of his means into the 18th in law. “I needed to keep it low with the wind up there, and I chose a club that I was hitting it high. I wish I had maybe taken a bit more time and really thought through the shot.
“It’s a bummer,” he said. “I believed I used to be taking to nonetheless have the ability to get it carried out nowadays.”
Griffin had gone 44 holes without a bogey until making one on No. 8, and it was a wild ride the rest of the way. He closed with a 74 and finished with four others at 18-under 270.
Norlander, also going for his first PGA Tour title, briefly had the lead until he hooked his approach on the par-5 14th into the water and made bogey, and then pulled his approach on the 17th and wound up missing a 12-footer for par. He closed with a 70.
Norlander had the last chance to extend the playoff, putting from off the green on the 18th about 20 feet away. It had too much pace and was off line.
Stallings also shot 70, getting up-and-down for par from left of the 18th green to keep alive his chances. In the playoff, he was just over the back of the green but had a tough putt through the fringe and a ridge from just outside 30 feet.
Aberg, casual as ever, was at a table when he finished his round of 68. Given a surprise chance, he pushed his approach to the 18th in the playoff well to the right to some 55 feet. He lagged it just left of the hole and it looked as though he would get another chance until List made his improbable birdie putt.
“To be truthful, I believed each time I used to be at the golfing route that 18 (beneath) wasn’t taking to assemble it,” Aberg said. “It ended up how it did, and I used to be very lucky for that. However congrats to Luke for that latter putt. It used to be implausible. Kudos to him.”
Listing gained for the primary future since any other playoff victory at Torrey Pines in early 2022. He had now not completed within the manage 10 since next, and he prohibited enjoying in the course of July to deal with accidents to his thumb and his footing.
Now he’s headed again to the Masters, and he begins the unutilized era at Kapalua for The Sentry.
The overall year used to be so unpredictable that two others additionally had a probability to win. Mark Hubbard stood over a 12-foot birdie putt at the seventeenth hollow to whisk the govern. He three-putted for bogey, took bogey at the ultimate hollow and shot 67 to omit the playoff via one shot.
Carl Yuan used to be apparently out of it till he holed out at the fly for eagle at the seventeenth hollow, hanging him one shot at the back of Griffin. However he got here up neatly scale down of the 18th hollow, made bogey and shot 72 to omit the playoff via one shot.