Hughes misses his shot in the dark
Dundas golfer will join three others as PGA Tour playoff resumes Monday morning
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, GA.— The largest PGA Tour playoff of the year at the RSM Classic didn’t finish before darkness Sunday, and it won’t include Billy Horschel when it resumes.
Horschel, the highest-ranked player in the five-man playoff at Sea Island, burned the edge of the cup with his birdie putt at No. 18 on the first playoff hole. Stepping over a routine tap-in from two feet, he blocked it to the right and was eliminated.
“I took my time and just blocked it,” Horschel said.
Mackenzie Hughes, the Canadian trying to become the first rookie to go wire-to-wire in 20 years, had a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 18 on the second extra hole and it turned away to the left. It already was plenty dark, and there was no chance to play another hole.
Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., Blayne Barber, Camilo Villegas and Henrik Norlander were to return at 8 a.m. on Monday to finish the final PGA Tour event of the year.
So much is at stake for all of them, starting with a trip to the Masters.
Norlander and Villegas don’t have full status on the PGA Tour this year — Norlander received a sponsor’s exemption — and a victory would take care of that. Hughes began his rookie season just six weeks ago and has a honeymoon planned in the off-season. Barber is going for his first PGA Tour victory.
All of them had their chances, and none had any real regrets over the final hour.
Hughes narrowly missed birdie chances on the 15th and 16th holes, but holed a five-foot par putt on the 18th in regulation for a 1-under 69 to join the playoff.
Norlander, who closed with a 65, stuffed a 9-iron into three feet on the 18th in regulation and was the first to reach 17-under 265. Barber ran off back-to-back birdies on the back nine, and he had a 12-foot birdie attempt at the 18th that he missed on the low side. He shot a 66.
Villegas played the best coming down the stretch. Two shots behind with three to play, the Colombian hit an aggressive drive on the par-4 16th that set up wedge for a short birdie, then holed an 18-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the par-3 17th to tie for the lead. He finished with a 6-foot par on the 18th for a 68.
It was the largest playoff on the PGA Tour since Alex Cejka won a five-man playoff in Puerto Rico in 2015.
Hughes had the best chance at a birdie on the 18th over the two playoff holes, though it wasn’t as easy as an ordinary 10-footer, not with darkness setting in.
“I almost contemplated waiting for tomorrow morning with that putt, but everyone was going,” he said. “It’s tough. But again, everyone’s doing it, so it’s fair for everybody . . . I played the ball outside left and it went right, and then at the end it went left and I couldn’t see it.”
THAI TRIFECTA: Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn was unable to accept the CME Globe trophy when it was first being presented to her, needing both hands to hold a big plastic cube stuffed with $1 million in cash. That’s a great way to end a season. Jutanugarn’s breakout year ended with a haul of prizes Sunday at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla. — the LPGA Tour’s player of the year award, the money title and the season-long Race to CME Globe points competition that comes with a $1 million bonus.
A winner of five tournaments this year, Jutanugarn held off Lydia Ko for all three of those trophies.
“I never expected like that much,” Jutanugarn said. “I just really wanted to win my first tournament.”
In Gee Chun made a 10-footer for birdie on the final hole to win the scoring title by the slimmest of margins, making her the first player since Nancy Lopez in 1978 to win both the Vare Trophy and rookie of the year in the same season.
And 20-year-old Charley Hull won her first tournament, finishing two shots ahead of So Yeon Ryu. Hull shot 66-66 in a bogey-free weekend, with 12 birdies and 24 pars in her final 36 holes of the season. She finished at 19-under 269.
Brooke Henderson (69) of Smiths Falls, Ont., was tied for 24th at 6under 282 while Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (68) was tied for 36th at 285.