Armour shoots 68, earns first career win at Sanderson Farms
JACKSON, Miss. — Ryan Armour’s final round at the Sanderson Farms Championship was downright boring, which was exactly the plan.
The 41-year-old Armour earned his first PGA Tour win on Sunday, shooting a 4-under 68 to beat Chesson Hadley by five shots at the Country Club of Jackson.
Armour began the final round with a five-shot lead and was never seriously challenged. He won for the first time in 105 career starts, nailing fairway after fairway in bright sunshine and cool temperatures to avoid any drama.
“It’s a big monkey off my back, I’m not going to lie,” said Armour, who finished at 19 under for the tournament. “There’s a lot of emotions running through my head. Part of me wants to fly home immediately and see my wife and kids.
“And part of me wants to go hang out with the boys.”
Jonathan Randolph — a Jackson-area native playing on his home course — briefly made a charge with seven birdies over his first nine holes. That pushed him to 14 under, but Armour was able to maintain some separation thanks to three birdies on his first seven holes.
Randolph eventually cooled off and Armour methodically worked his way around the course with short, but straight drives. He had six birdies and two bogeys on Sunday and shot
68 or better in all four rounds. At times, his drives would be 30 or 40 yards behind playing partners Hadley and Scott Strohmeyer, but his short game and putting were terrific.
“It’s validation that you don’t have to hit it 330 in the air to still win golf tournaments,” Armour said. “I hit a lot of fairways. I hit a lot of greens and made a lot of putts and somehow you still win.”
Hadley shot a 68. Randolph was third after shooting a 67 and finishing at 12 under. Smylie Kaufman, Brian Stuard and Strohmeyer — who was a Monday qualifier — tied for fourth at
10 under.
Armour’s win bucks a trend at Sanderson Farms, which has been dominated over the past several years by the tour’s younger golfers. Five of the previous six winners were in their 20s.
HSBC Champions
SHANGHAI — Justin Rose posed with the trophy from the balcony high above the 18th green at Sheshan International, a moment that didn’t seem possible.
He started the final round eight shots behind Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world.
“The beginning of the day, I was playing for second,” Rose said.
The HSBC Champions turned into a shocker in Shanghai when Johnson went into the PGA Tour record books for all the wrong reasons.
Instead of becoming the first player to win three World Golf Championships in one year, he tied a record for losing the largest lead in the final round. Six shots clear of the field, Johnson didn’t make a single birdie on a wild, wind-blown Sunday for a collapse that even Rose didn’t see coming.
Only when he saw a leaderboard behind the 14th green and realized he was three shots behind did Rose think he might have a chance. He got up-anddown with a tough bunker shot for birdie. He made a 10-foot par save at the 15th to stay in the game. He birdied the next two holes.
As Rose was signing for a 5-under 67, he looked up and saw Johnson’s last hope for eagle on the 18th tumble off the side of the green and into the water.
“It’s the kind of day you certainly don’t expect,” Rose said after his two-shot victory. “It’s the kind of a day you hope for — dream for — but a lot of things need to go your way in order for a day like today to happen, coming from eight shots behind, especially going against a player like DJ.”
Johnson matched the record for losing a six-shot lead, most recently by Sergio Garcia at Quail Hollow in 2005, most famously by Greg Norman in the 1996 Masters.
The one-man show turned into a four-man race in the final hour, and Rose seized on it with a 31 on the back nine. He finished at 14-under 274. Johnson tied for second with Henrik Stenson (70) and Brooks Koepka (71), who also had their chances.