Mackenzie Hughes held his nerve in a playoff against Sepp Straka to secure the Sanderson Farms Championship with a score of 17 under.
It is the second PGA Tour win of the 31-year-old Canadian's career, with nearly six years passed since his first win back at the RSM Classic in 2016.
This win was all the more unlikely after shooting a 71 on Thursday, but he followed it with a 63 on Friday for the lowest round of the week, before finishing with 68 and 69 on the weekend.
He had to fend off the challenge of Straka to get it done, who was the only player this week to shoot all four rounds in the 60s.
Straka rose to a share of the lead after four birdies over the space of five holes on his front-nine, and another pair of back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th to tie things up for the last few holes.
Hughes had a makeable birdie putt on the 17th to take the lead, but he narrowly missed it, before hooking his drive on the 18th into a position where salvaging a par was the best-case scenario.
From deep in the rough, he sent his second shot on the par-four over the back of the green, requiring an up-and-down to force a playoff. His long putt from off the green was excellent, leaving him a four-footer for par and he made no mistake.
Hughes again failed to make the green in regulation as they replayed the 18th, but he again saved par as Straka missed a 10-footer for birdie. On the second playoff hole, replaying the 18th one more time, Hughes figured it out, landing his approach within 10 feet and converting the birdie for the win.
Speaking to NBC in the moments after his win, he called being greeted by his wife and young son to celebrate a victory "something I've dreamed about since I had my first boy".
"I kept telling myself the whole week that I was going to do it, and that was the only thing I saw in my mind," he said. "Those par-saves down the stretch… I'd say that kind of describes my game a bit, that grit and perseverance."
There was strong South African representation at the top of the leaderboard, with Garrick Higgo alone in third at 16 under while Dean Burmester took sole possession of fourth at 15 under.
Argentina's Emiliano Grillo was joined by Americans Nick Hardy, Keegan Bradley and Mark Hubbard in a tie for fifth at 13 under, and defending champion Sam Burns finished nine shots off the pace at eight under in a tie for 30th.
Rory McIlroy dismisses report that he was on the verge of shock move to LIV Golf
Rory McIlroy has dismissed a report that he was on the verge of a shock move to LIV Golf.
London financial paper City AM reported at the weekend that McIlroy, who has been among the staunchest critics of the Saudi-funded breakaway, could be about to jump ship in a deal worth USD850million (£680million).
McIlroy’s manager Sean O’Flaherty told the Irish Independent the report was “fake news” and the world number two was asked about the claim ahead of this week’s RBC Heritage.
“I honestly don’t know how these things get started,” McIlroy said in an interview with Golf Channel which he subsequently posted on his official account on X, formerly Twitter.
“I’ve never been offered a number from LIV and I’ve never contemplated going to LIV.
“I think I’ve made it clear over the past two years that I don’t think it’s something for me.
“Doesn’t mean that I judge people that went and played over there, I think one of the things that I’ve realised over the past two years is people can make their own decisions for whatever they think is best for themselves and who are we to judge them for that?
“But personally for me my future is here on the PGA Tour and it’s never been any different.”
Asked if he knew where the rumour had originated, McIlroy said: “No, no idea.
“Jeez, I think over the last two years there’s been so many rumours of guys… and I think the one thing I’ve realised as well is guys need to keep an open mind and I’m sure there’s been players who are still playing on the PGA Tour that have talked to the guys from LIV and had offers and whatever.
“But I have no idea. It’s never even been a conversation for us and it’s one of those things.
“It’s unfortunate we have to deal with it and this is the state that our game’s in but I’m obviously here today, playing this PGA Tour event and I will play the PGA Tour for the rest of my career.”
Danny Willett tempted to bring forward full-time return after impressive Masters
Former champion Danny Willett admits he is tempted to accelerate his planned return to full-time action following an impressive comeback in the Masters.
Willett had feared he would be sidelined for at least a year following shoulder surgery in September last year but recovered sufficiently to return to the scene of his 2016 triumph and carded a superb opening 68.
The 36-year-old was also level par for 17 holes in extremely difficult conditions in Friday’s second round before an untimely triple bogey on the 18th, but comfortably made the halfway cut and went on to finish in a tie for 45th along with defending champion Jon Rahm.
View this post on Instagram“Mentally it’s been really tough this week and maybe a little bit of that came in towards the end,” Willett told the PA news agency.
“But the body feels good, shoulder feels really strong so now I’ve got another seven weeks off to go and do the work that we need to do to progress before we come back properly.
“If you said at the start of the week that you’re going to have some really good spells and you’d finish 45th you’d have probably taken it, so there’s some good things to work on.
“The 68 in the first round was fantastic and the last couple of days could have been three or four shots better without being crazy.
“We played with two guys who won this year on the PGA Tour [Austin Eckroat and Stephan Jaeger] and we weren’t sure how it’s going to be but you come in and you don’t feel like you’re leaps and bounds behind them.”
Asked if he was now tempted to add tournaments to his schedule, Willett added: “It is tempting, it’s really tempting but my manager’s going to speak to the guys and see what happens with the medical stuff.
“They’ve always told me to not come back too early because you don’t really gain anything in terms of your medical exemptions and things like that.
“There’s still no rush. The main plan was the European Open in Hamburg in seven weeks.
“That’s the only one I’m entered into and I don’t think there’s any reason to compete before that unless I feel a burning desire or Nic [wife Nicole] kicks me out of the house because I’ve been home too long.”
Scottie Scheffler hails influence of English putting guru after Masters win
Scottie Scheffler has hailed the influence of English putting guru Phil Kenyon after claiming his second Masters title in the last three years.
Scheffler compiled one of the best ball-striking seasons ever seen in 2023, his adjusted scoring average of 68.63 being the seventh-lowest in PGA Tour history and the best by anyone not named Tiger Woods.
In total Scheffler was ranked first in nine different categories, including greens in regulation and strokes gained off the tee, but was ranked 162nd out of 193 players in putting.
That prompted the world number one to turn to Kenyon for help and the move has paid massive dividends, with Scheffler winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship in successive weeks and finishing second in his next start before travelling to Augusta.
“After East Lake last year, ride home on the plane, sitting there talking to Blake [Smith, his agent] and we kind of look at each other, and I think we both were thinking the same thing,” the 27-year-old American explained following his nerveless four-shot Masters win over Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg.
“And we both looked at each other, and I was like, ‘You know, I want to see a putting coach’. Blake goes, ‘I think that’s a good idea. Let’s talk to Randy [Smith, his coach].
“I had watched Phil before and watched him coach players. When you’re out here as long as I’ve been, I just see stuff, and I loved the way Phil coached his players.
“You look at a guy like Fitzy [Matt Fitzpatrick] who lines up his putts and uses a putter that has a lot of swing to it, and you look at a guy like Keegan Bradley, doesn’t use a line on the ball, uses a big giant putter cross-handed, and he putts good.
“As I watched Phil, I could tell that he was open-minded, and that’s the type of people I like to work with. And we kind of hit the ground running in the fall.
“I can’t speak highly enough of the decision that Randy also made to be open-minded, not take an ego to it, sit there, watch us work, watch Phil do his thing.
“Phil is also a guy that doesn’t have a big ego. He just wants what’s best for his players. I’m really, really fortunate to have those two guys as part of my team.
“Randy had taught me for almost 20 years every single aspect of the game. And so for me to have to bring in somebody else could have been a shot to his ego and he may not have wanted me to do it.
“But Randy sat there and he said, ‘You know what, I think it’s the right time’. We called Phil and about a week later he came in, had a visit. We worked for a couple days, and, yeah, now we’re here.”
Another key member of Scheffler’s team is caddie Ted Scott, who formerly worked for two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson.
“Ted, it’s going to be hard to catch up with you on all these Masters titles if you keep working for me,” Scheffler joked during the green jacket presentation ceremony.
The pair had met in a bible study class on the PGA Tour and Scheffler and Watson played together in the Zurich Classic team event before Watson and Scott parted ways.
“When he called me I had no idea he was that good,” Scott said.
“We were his partner in New Orleans. I was like, yeah, he’s a good player, and he’s a great guy. I’d love to hang out with him. After two weeks, I was like, this guy is really good. Now it’s like, wow, is he really good. I’m surprised too.
“I’m just pinching myself honestly. I don’t really know what I’m seeing. The guy is special. He’s a different kind of special. I think we’re all seeing it, and we’re all questioning where did this come from?
“I think discipline is a word that comes to mind. I’ve heard stories that when he was seven years old he would show up at the golf course wearing pants [trousers], talking about he’s going to be on the PGA Tour.
“And he just does all the little things well, and he does them consistently. He doesn’t skip. He doesn’t miss a day. He has that mentality of like ‘I’m going somewhere with all this, I’m actually doing it for a reason’.
“Then when he gets in a moment, he’s got all the tools.”
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