PGA TOUR
Sanderson Farms Championship
Burns Fires To Win Sanderson Farms Championship
American Sam Burns shot a scorching final round 5-under 67 to win the Sanderson Farms Championship. The 25-year-old, who made his PGA Tour debut as a professional at this event in 2017, now owns two PGA Tour victories.
The world No. 25 covered the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi in 22-under with rounds of 68, 66, 65 and 67. It was the lowest 72-hole score recorded at the layout in this event. Burns overcame Tour veteran Nick Watney and PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young by one shot.
Entering the final round, nine players were within two shots of the lead. Seven of those players were searching for their first win on the PGA Tour. Burns, who won his maiden title at the Valspar Championship in May, began the final round in a share of second place. It was his sixth time inside the top three of the leaderboard through 54 holes since the start of last season. Only Jordan Spieth has matched Burns with that feat.
On the final day, Burns was chasing 54-hole leader PGA Tour rookie Sahith Theegala. Theegala, aged, 23, won the 2020 Australian Masters of the Amateurs and secured his PGA Tour card for 2021–22 season via the Korn Ferry Tour. The Californian maintained his one-shot lead through the turn. However, he fell out of contention with three bogeys in four holes early on the back nine. Theegala closed with a 1-under 71 to get to 19-under and finish in a share of 8th place.
Watney, aged 40, hit the lead at 21-under with his seventh birdie of the day at the 15th hole. The five-time PGA Tour winner, who was once ranked as high as world No. 9, was hoping for his first win since The Barclays in 2012. In recent years, injury and poor form had sent the American to plummet to world No. 660. And, on June 19, 2020, while playing in the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, Watney became the first PGA Tour player to test positive for COVID-19. Watney ended his round with three consecutive pars to shoot a final round 7-under 65 and hold the clubhouse lead at 21-under.
Young joined Watney in the lead at 21-under with a birdie at the 13th hole. The 24-year-old American then produced a bogey at the next hole before making a bounce back birdie at the 15th hole. Like Watney, Young closed out the event with three straight pars and finish equal runner-up with Watney.
Burns joined Watney and Young at the top of the leaderboard at 21-under with a birdie at the 13th hole. The Louisiana State University representative made his winning move to claim the outright lead with birdies at the 14th and 15th hole, which gave him a two-shot lead playing the final hole. The comfortable buffer gave him the breathing space to drop a shot at the 72nd hole and hold on win the second PGA Tour event of the new season.
Defending champion Sergio Garcia missed the cut. Fresh off his Ryder Cup performance at Whistling Straits, the Spaniard posted rounds of 70 & 70 to get to 4-under and miss the weekend by one shot.
The three Australians in the field failed to make the halfway cut at 5-under. 2021 Irish Open winner Lucas Herbert finished at 1-under. Cam Davis, who won the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in July, struggled at 2-over. And, 30-year-old Brett Drewitt could only manage 3-over.
The PGA Tour moves to Las Vegas for next week’s Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin. Scotland’s Martin Laird is the defending champion.
Final Scores
Sanderson Farms Championship
1. Sam Burns -22
T2. Nick Watney -21
T2. Cameron Young -21
T4. Henrik Norlander -20
T4. Hayden Buckley -20
T4. Andrew Landry -20
T4. Trey Mullinax -20
T8. Si Woo Kim -19
T8. Seth Reeves -19
T8. Sahith Theegala -19
Australians
MC. Cam Davis
MC. Lucas Herbert
MC. Brett Drewitt
Photo credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
