The first opposite-field event of the 2024 PGA Tour season was a two-man race down the stretch that went to a lengthy playoff.
On one side was Erik Barnes, who turned pro in 2011 but was making just his 22nd PGA Tour start. On the other was Brice Garnett, who six years ago won his lone tournament, the 2018 Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic. This was his 241st start.
In a social media post from 2020 that resurfaced Sunday, Barnes talked about taking a job as a Grocery Replenishment Specialist, with the shifts starting at 4 a.m., during COVID when playing opportunities diminished on the Korn Ferry Tour.
.@ebarnesgolf10 never won in 174 @KornFerryTour starts
Former Grocery Replenishment Specialist now chasing first @PGATOUR title
Barnes shares lead @PuertoRicoOpen (-19) with two holes to play https://t.co/N9G5S4CaEl
— Kevin Prise (@PGATOURKevin) March 10, 2024
“It’s a nice way of saying ‘stock boy’,” he said at the time.
The duo were tied for the lead after regulation at 19 under, with both making par on the 630-yard par-5 18th. In the playoff, they each went par-birdie-par before Garnett drained a long right-to-left breaking putt for a birdie, leaving Barnes to match with a putt from the fringe for birdie but he ran it by the left.
That ended the longest playoff in tournament history as Garnett won for the second time on Tour, six years after his first. He earned $720,000 for the win as well as full exempt status on the PGA Tour through the 2026 season.
He also earned a spot in this week’s 2024 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Ben Kohles, Jimmy Stanger and Victor Perez, who shot a 65 Sunday, tied for third.
Amateur Jackson Van Paris, a junior at Vanderbilt playing in his first PGA Tour event, posted the low score in the final round, an 8-under 64. He was in 50th place to start the day but finished tied for 10th.
[lawrence-auto-related count=4 category=1375]