The American Sam Burns was in the fight in the final stretch of the Sanderson Farms Championship along with half a dozen players seeking their first PGA Tour title and the new champion was proclaimed when completing the fourth round with a record of 67 strokes (-5) and a cumulative 266 (-22).
Burns played like he had before, and that led to his second win of the year. He played without errors until it didn’t matter and he threw three birdies in a row that allowed him to take control on Sunday and close his participation in the Jackson Country Club with a stroke of advantage over his compatriots Nick Watney and Cameron Young (267, -21) who seconds finished.
The new champion of the Sanderson Farms Championship, who He relieved Sergio Garcia, who had also won the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook in the spring.
In addition to concluding within a shot of a playoff at Riviera and lost in a playoff at the World Golf Championship in Tennessee.
None of that affected Burns when it came to defining his second title and winning a cash prize of $ 1,260,000.
“Having those experiences in leadership, I think they were really important to me. I learned a lot“Burns stated.” With that under my belt today, that experience was definitely helpful; And coming to the home stretch, I felt very different from what I felt in the past, not necessarily more confident, but just in a better frame of mind. “
Burns had four birdies on a six-hole stretch in the last nine.
The last three birdies were key. He made a four-meter birdie putt on par 3 of 13, hit a 5-iron another four meters that set up a two-putt birdie on the next hole to take the lead, and then hit a perfect pitch from behind the green on the achievable par 4 of 15 for a tap-in birdie.
Aiming for a two-shot lead on 18, he took a safe bogey from the green bunker to secure the win.
Watney, coming off his worst season in more than a decade, closed with 65 (-7) and had his best result in more than three years, which allowed him to win a prize of $ 623,000, the same that Young received.
Rookie Sahith Theegala, a native of California, who had been at the top of the rankings since the start of the tournament, started the final round with a one-shot lead, was in control of the final round until he reached the bottom nine.
He was unable to get up and down from a bunker next to the green on par 3 of the 10th, missing a putt of less than two meters. With a 7 iron in hand for his second to par 5 of 11, he leaked the shot to the right and into the water, and missed a putt from just over a meter to bogey.
Two holes later, he made three putts from just over five meters to bogey. From there, it was tried to limit the damage. He played the final five holes at 1 under for 71. Theegala tied for eighth, taking him onto the course next week in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For Burns, the 25-year-old from Louisiana, he’s just beginning to pay off.
His victory also ended a trend in which six of the seven previous Sanderson Farms Championship winners captured their first PGA Tour title.
He was among the few who had winning experience. Six players in dispute at the start of the final round had recently earned PGA Tour cards through the Korn Ferry Tour.
Among the exceptions was Watney, first held back by a low back injury and then by a loss of confidence. He worked with Butch Harmon again in the summer and then put together a great week with his putter, leading the field in key putter stat.
Spanish amateur Eugenio Chacarra completed his best tour of the tournament with a record of 67 (-5) and a cumulative record of 278 (-10) to finish in 45th place, shared with five other players.
