Hughes grabs maiden PGA Tour title

A playoff to decide the victor of the RSM Classic will resume on Monday with four players still battling to claim the win at the Sea Island Golf Club.

At 8 a.m. Monday morning, Hughes returned to the course along with Blayne Barber, Camilo Villegas and Henrik Norlander to try to reach a conclusion on the par-3 17th hole.

Hughes stands at 14 under after 36 holes heading into the weekend, two clear of Taiwan’s Pan Cheng-Tsung, another rookie, who shot a 64 on the Seaside Course to back up his opening round of 66.

He became the second rookie to win at the start of the new PGA Tour season after Cody Gribble was victorious in Mississippi.

Villegas has slid to 424th in the world rankings and is playing on a lesser status reserved for past tour event winners, hungry for the tour exemption through September of 2019 that will go to the playoff victor. Billy Horschel also was in the playoff after 72 holes but was eliminated on the first playoff hole in the first five-man playoff on the PGA Tour since the 2015 Puerto Rico Open. Unbelievably, Horschel missed his tiddler so the remaining four headed back to the tee knowing that if they didn’t find a victor this time then they would be heading home as darkness began to fall. Horschel missed his birdie attempt by a fraction of an inch on the 18th hole in the playoff. “I figured I had to make it or I would be out. Simple as that”, Horchel tweeted.

No problem. He’d get another chance in the five-man playoff at the RSM Classic. “It was pitch black”. However, he drained the long putt and then watched as the rest of the field missed theirs. I hit it with good pace.

“I just blocked it”, said Horschel, who narrowly missed a birdie putt that would have won the tournament before flubbing the two-foot par putt to remain in the playoff. He said he was thinking, ‘If I put this in, I’m going to put some real pressure on them.’ So it changes the mindset a little bit.

“Mack is normally a higher than average ballstriker, but has really buckled down on short game the past two seasons”, said Cowx. “That’s all I can ask for”. The four-time TOUR victor was looking for his first win since the 2014 Wyndham Championship where he came from four back with 7-under 63 to win by one.

This past August, Hughes won the Price Cutter Charity Championship which helped him finish 17th on Web.com Tour’s money list, giving him a berth in the PGA Tour.

Norlander, 29, is ranked 409th in the world and playing on a sponsor’s exemption.

This is Lahiri’s third start on PGA in the new season after the tied third finish in CIMB Classic and T-28 in Mayakoba.