For the first time in his younger profession, Kevin Yu has discovered his manner into the winner's circle on the PGA Tour. Chasing down the ultimate pairing and setting the clubhouse lead at 23 below, Yu defeated Beau Hossler on the first playoff gap with a birdie to claim the 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship.
With the win, Yu secures his enjoying privileges on the PGA Tour for the subsequent two years and earns invites into the 2025 Sentry, Masters and PGA Championship. He climbs all the way in which up to No. 60 in the FedEx Cup standings and now finds himself on the within observe to end in the highest 60, which might grant him entry to the first two signature occasions of 2025 — the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational.
“I'm excited inside my mind but I'm trying to be as calm as possible from outside,” Yu stated. “Just really I feel like I took a little break from last month, really helped me. I feel like I was playing great, and just mentally, I was just kind of tired, frustrated, and just feel like momentum [wasn't] going anywhere in the last maybe six months. Then today out there I was trying to do my best on everything and trying to … I did a pretty good job out there today.”
Yu started the ultimate spherical at The Country Club of Jackson two strokes off the tempo set by 54-hole chief Keith Mitchell. While Mitchell and Hossler exchanged punches in the ultimate group, the 26-year-old went about his enterprise. After enjoying his first seven holes in even par, Yu discovered a unique gear coming down the stretch.
Carding 5 birdies in his final 10 holes — together with a clutch 15-foot conversion on the 72nd gap — Yu did simply sufficient to surpass Lucas Glover in the clubhouse and put up the lead on his personal. When Mitchell three-putted for bogey and Hossler saved par after needing to chip out from behind a tree, a playoff was set.
Like in regulation, Yu discovered the center of the golf green and did one higher as his method settled inside 6 ft the second time round on the par-4 finisher. With Hossler as soon as once more discovering hassle off the tee and unable to discover the inexperienced in regulation, Yu's birdie putt sealed the deal and sealed the largest second of his PGA Tour profession.
“It's literally a dream come true,” Yu stated. “I've been dreaming of this moment since I was 5. I think this is the dream for all the golfers, to win on PGA Tour, and I did it today.”
Here are the grades for the remainder of the notables on the leaderboard at the 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship.
T3. Keith Mitchell (-22): The 54-hole chief's closing spherical was bookended by three-putt bogeys with the second coming in essentially the most grueling of fashions. After squandering his in a single day benefit, Mitchell settled into his day and finally discovered himself holding a two-stroke lead with 5 holes to play. With his ball hanging not cooperating, the smooth-swinging proper hander scratched and clawed to the ultimate gap with a share of the lead. Finding the golf green (his just one on the again 9) and the inexperienced in regulation, Mitchell's birdie bid from 35 ft to win grazed the underside edge and ran 4 ft previous. His par putt to be a part of Yu at 23 below did the identical and noticed Mitchell exit the inexperienced on the surface wanting in for additional holes. Grade: A
7. Daniel Berger (-20): Remember him? The former top-10 golfer in the world performed like one this week as he notched his finest end on the PGA Tour because the 2022 Memorial. That week at Jack's place was his second-to-last event earlier than getting sidelined due to harm. It has been robust sledding since as he has missed 11 cuts in 22 begins this yr however insists that is as wholesome as he has been in fairly a while. He jumps onto the highest 125 bubble in the FedEx Cup and can battle the remainder of the autumn to maintain full-time PGA Tour standing. Grade: A
T8. Mackenzie Hughes (-19): The lone competitor to make the journey from Montreal to Jackson, Hughes greater than maintained his type from his Presidents Cup debut. Firing two rounds in the mid 60s together with a final-round 64 to catapult his title up the leaderboard, the Canadian saved his spot atop the FedEx Cup Fall. With back-to-back top-10 finishes to his title, Hughes finds himself on the trajectory of profitable earlier than the calendar flips to the brand new yr. Grade: B+
T16. Rickie Fowler (-17): Teeing it up for the first time since The Open, Fowler fired 4 straight rounds in the 60s to end inside the highest 20 for simply the third time all yr. It was a well-rounded effort as his quick sport flashed brilliance, his iron play had its moments and he ranked inside the highest 10 in phrases of driving accuracy. He stays exterior the highest 100 in the FedEx Cup however inched nearer to solidifying his spot in the Players Championship area. Grade: B
T28. Nick Dunlap (-15): The two-time PGA Tour winner entered the week as the one participant who completed inside the highest 50 in the FedEx Cup standings in the 2024 season and struck the ball as such. Ranking inside the highest 10 in strokes gained method and strokes gained tee to inexperienced, Dunlap was undone by his efforts (or lack thereof) on the greens. Unable to persistently join on his ample birdie alternatives, the Alabama product was left in the mud and had to accept only a top-30 consequence. Grade: C
