JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — Stephen Fisk said he’s not going to get in the way of his first PGA Tour victory and won the Sanderson Farms Championship on his final three holes, closing birdies on Sunday at 8 under 64.
South Africa’s Fisk and Garrick Higggo finally separated themselves in the closure hole of the country club in Jackson, and they held quite a show.
They were tied up when Fisk missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the reachable par 4 on the 15th. It turned out to be his last mistake.
He stopped a 40-foot birdie putt on the 16th, and Higugo said he heard someone in the crowd say, “Take it, Higugo.” South Africa responded with his own 12-foot birdie (fourth consecutive in the back nine), and playfully placed his fingers on his lips with a smile.
Fisk danced around the cup and hit a calm wedge 17 feet away. Higugo replied again with a wedge just outside three feet. It looked like it was descending onto the wire, except Higugo’s short birdie putt caught her left lip.
Fisk pulled one with a birdie and there was no doubt about his approach to four feet to win the final birdie with Higugo on two shots.
“I came out today with the attitude that there’s nothing to stop me,” Fisk said in an interview with Golf Channel on the 18th Green. “I felt like I was standing here right now before the round began. I know it’s good enough. I thought I could do that.”
And he finished 24 under 264, bringing great benefits to the 28-year-old, playing college golf at Georgia Southern and playing Royal Liverpool’s team for the 2019 Walker Cup team.
Fisk was ranked 135th in the FedEx Cup and was due to return on the Korn Ferry Tour unless he built the ground for the remaining two months of the Fall Series. Only the top 100 at the end of the season holds the full card.
He is currently offering a two-year exemption until 2027.
“Having work safety is pretty great,” Fisk said. “It was a long and difficult year.”
Higugo seemed to have come out of the mix with a bogey bogey start to the back nine. But then he ran through four straight birdies to catch Fisk, ready to make it five in a row until a brief mistake on the 17th was sacrificed to him.
“My idea was to birdie every hole,” Higugo said. “I almost did that. Stephen did the same and I put a hat on him.”
Danny Walker took the lead early in the back nine, but he hit it in the water towards the green on the par 5 11th, making a bogey and ran left to the hazard that led to another bogey on the 17th. He shot 69 and was tied to third place with Vince Whaley (67) and Rasmus Hojgaard of Ryder Cup Player.
All three of these players won a small consolation award. Hojgaard was in 87th place in the FedEx Cup, so he left the Ryder Cup celebration in New York, Mississippi. He moved 12 spots to 75th.
The other two moved up 18 spots.
“If possible, that 100 number won’t be too stressful,” said Walker, who missed the cut in the eight straight tournaments that are entering the Sanderson Farms Championship. “You can actually play to win, and that makes you feel much better.”
Hojgaard, Whaley and Walker were among those heading to Japan for Baycurrent Classic, the only PGA tour stop in Asia this year.
