2022 Sanderson Farm Championship leaderboard, grades: Mackenzie Hughes outlasts Sepp Straka in extra holes
CBSN
The Canadian grabbed his second PGA Tour victory with a dramatic walk-off birdie
Mackenzie Hughes rose above his own consistency to win the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship in a two-hole playoff with a walk-off birdie against Sepp Straka. Hughes gutted out a 69 in regulation that concluded with a nasty up and down at the 72nd hole to get into the playoff, which he punctuated with an early fist pump that proved to be accurate. The victory, Hughes' second on the Tour, ends a drought of 155 professional starts between wins.
When I say Hughes rose above his own consistency, here is what I mean: The Canadian is your prototypically average PGA Tour player. He makes a lot of cuts, notches a lot of top 30s and top 40s, but he rarely wins because he rarely has those standard deviation weeks needed to win on the PGA Tour. Interestingly, he had one of those last year when he gained 12 strokes (a borderline winning number at a lot of events) at the RSM Classic but failed to capitalize.
That wasn't the case this time around. Hughes took advantage of some terrific tee-to-green play (he finished first in the field this week in strokes gained from tee to green) and closed out a victory that had been so elusive.
