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Kevin Yu was in competition throughout the final round at Sanderson Farms Championshipbut his debut PGA Tour victory came as a surprise in the end.
This is because Keith Mitchell and Beau Hossler were duking it out for the lead all day. Yu was always a shot or two behind after starting the second day behind.
That was until he drained a 15-foot putt on the 72nd hole, ahead of the leaders to reach the clubhouse at 23.
The leaders came into the 18th tied with Yu, but Hossler hit him out of position and pleaded with the rules officials for TIO relief, which was denied.
Mitchell, meanwhile, hit his drive into the fairway and then gave himself a chance to win outright by finding the green more than 30 yards out. But he ran his first shot four yards wide and missed the rebound to miss the playoffs altogether.
Then Hossler miraculously went up and down from 131 yards for par to force a playoff.
But the playoff was all Yu. Hossler’s drive went left again, setting the stage for Yu, whose drive narrowly missed a fairway, to pad his approach to 18 to six feet. He converted the putt to win the Sanderson Farms Championship, his first PGA Tour victory.
Yu’s win comes at the end of what had been a solid but unspectacular sophomore season on the PGA Tour. He had top 10s early in the season which put him in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Ambut he played in just one other Signature event and finished 90th in the FedEx Cup, a slight improvement from his rookie year.
He has now secured himself membership on the PGA Tour until 2026.
Meanwhile, Hossler is still looking for his first PGA Tour win in his seventh season on Tour and Mitchell is still looking for his second career title after blowing his second 54-hole lead on Tour this season.