Tag: Sebastian Munoz

Zozo Championship: Sebastian Munoz holes out for eagle twice, shoots 64, says, ‘It’s just one of those days’

We all know the Golf Gods must be crazy and today they showered love on Sebastian Munoz, who holed out twice for eagle to grab the lead.

Don’t ask Sebastian Munoz to explain what got into him on Thursday at Sherwood Country Club near Los Angeles. The 27-year-old Colombian holed out twice for eagle, poured in eight birdies and overcame a double bogey as well as two bogeys on the front nine. But explain why the Golf Gods seemed to be in his corner during a round of 8-under 64 to grab the first-round lead at the ZOZO Championship? No, sir.

“I just get out of the way,” he said. “At first I was like what should I do, should I be more calm, should I attack more? I just stopped trying to play anything and just keep playing golf. It’s just one of those days; it happens.”

Funny enough, Munoz’s round started inauspiciously with a bogey, but he quickly righted the ship by canning a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 2, the first of three consecutive birdies. A par at the fifth ended his birdie streak but he began a new one by draining a 36-footer at 6. Then Munoz didn’t even bother to use his putter at No. 7, holing out for eagle at from 168 yards.

“I just focused on making the best swing I could and I started four yards left, started cutting nicely towards the pin, and once you see the guys throw (his arms up and make) the touchdown sign, it’s good,” he said.

Indeed, it was. Munoz gave a shot back at No. 8, but made birdie on three of his first four holes on the back nine to claim the lead. Just when it looked like Munoz might post a real low one, he gave two strokes back with a double at 14. Never fear because Munoz got them back and did so in dramatic fashion. His second shot at the par-5 16th hole caught a lucky break and he made the most of it, holing out for eagle from 51 yards.

“We thought it was maybe going to be wet, but happily it was short of the water,” said Munoz, who tacked on one final birdie at 17. “Then 50-yarder and my caddie was like, ‘Be aggressive, you already took a risk on shot No. 2, so might as well just keep going.’ So I was like, ‘All right, sure.’ So, I throw it up there and find the hole. So, it was pretty sweet.”

Pretty sweet, indeed, but still no answer for being dialed in on Thursday: “I don’t know, it kept happening. The guys cheered for me and I was like, let’s go.”

Munoz, who won the 2019 Sanderson Farms Championship, has played solid if unspectacularly during his first four starts of the 2020-21 season and is coming off his best finish, a T-9 at the CJ Cup. He’ll make his Masters debut next month. His 64 was good enough for a one-stroke lead over Englishman Tyrrell Hatton and American Justin Thomas.

Hatton registered his third round of 65 in his last five rounds. He had a share of the lead until his 7-wood tee shot at the par-5 16th found a fairway bunker and he couldn’t scramble for par. Hatton won the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship two weeks ago and overcame jet lag last week to finish third at the CJ Cup.

“Confidence is pretty high at the moment,” Hatton said. “I guess everyone kind of goes through phases, don’t they? It works both ways. You have bad runs and you have good runs. I guess you just have to try and take advantage of the runs when you feel pretty good. So far, so good for me. Hoping that I can kind of play well the next three days and finish off what would be a really good three weeks of golf.”

Thomas started slowly but came charging home in 29 with five birdies and an eagle.

“I just had one brain fart on the front,” he said of a 3-putt bogey at No. 7, but he had no issues with making a 10-foot eagle putt at 16.

Three Georgia Bulldogs – Brian Harman, Harris English and Kevin Kisner – were among a group of five golfers another shot back after shooting 66. Harman reeled off five birdies in a row beginning at No. 2 (his 11th hole of the day) as Sherwood CC was there for taking.

Tiger Woods wasn’t able to take advantage. He suffered from a case of the rights, making bogey or worse on three par-5s to shoot 4-over 76 and beat just two golfers in the 78-man field (Gary Woodland withdrew with a back injury).

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Defending champion Sebastián Muñoz eyes Sanderson Farms title defense after 64

Sebastian Munoz shot 64 to share the lead of the Sanderson Farms Championship with Kevin Chappell, Charley Hoffman and Jimmy Walker.

JACKSON, Miss. – Reveille the Rooster, the name of the trophy handed out at the Sanderson Farms Championship, was displayed at Maridoe Golf Club in Dallas for six months before tournament champion Sebastián Muñoz moved it to his home gym about two months ago and more recently settled on a more permanent spot in the front entranceway of his house.

“As soon as you walk in,” he said of what is arguably the best-looking trophy on the PGA Tour, “you can see it.”

If Muñoz keeps playing as he did in Thursday’s opening round at the Country Club of Jackson, he might have a matching trophy to go with it. Muñoz blitzed the course for nine birdies en route to an 8-under 64 and a four-way tie for the lead. But he isn’t thinking about his trophy this week.

“I just kind of tricked myself into thinking I was not the defending champion,” he explained. “I just kind of thinking it was another tournament at a course that I really like, and it’s been working so far, so I’ll keep doing that.”

Sanderson Farms: Leaderboard | Tee times, TV info | Photos

Sanderson Farms Championship Sebastian Munoz
Sebastián Muñoz poses with Reveille the Rooster, the Sanderson Farms Championship trophy at The Country Club of Jackson on Sept. 22, 2019. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

What Muñoz did better than almost anyone was making birdies in bunches, including four birdies in his first five holes. He nearly holed his second shot from 106 yards on the opening holes to set the tone for the day. Teeing off in the afternoon, Muñoz couldn’t help but see that Jimmy Walker and Charley Hoffman had gone out early and set the pace with matching 64s.

“I knew it was gettable,” Munoz said.

Only a lone bogey at the ninth hole when his tee shot landed in a divot prevented him from matching the 63 he shot here a year ago in the third round on the way to his first PGA Tour title.

“It reminded me a lot of when I shot 9 under. I was definitely trying to get to that number again,” he said.

Muñoz got the dropped stroke back with a birdie at 11 and then strung together four consecutive birdies beginning at No. 13.

“Sometimes I just ride the momentum. One good shot kind of feeds me for two, three holes,” he said.

Kevin Chappell can relate. Starting on the back nine, he birdied four of his first six holes, including three in a row beginning at No. 13, too. He chipped in for par at No. 6 to keep his momentum and capped the day by making birdie at the final two holes to join the leaders at 64. Chappell, who is playing on a medical extension and added a baby girl to his family this summer, sank a 37-foot putt at No. 8 that allowed him to dip into the pocket of his caddie Benji Thompson.

“We have a fun game,” Chappell said. “If I make it from outside 20 feet, he’s got to pay me $20 and if I leave it short inside 20 feet I’ve got to pay him, and it was about four feet short, and I was saying, ‘Pay me, Benji. Pay me, Benji,’ and that thing went right in the middle.”

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Sebastian Munoz in right frame of mind ahead of Sanderson Farms Championship title defense

Sebastian Munoz is in the right frame of mind ahead of his Sanderson Farms Championship title defense.

Columbia’s Sebastian Munoz joined the fraternity of PGA Tour winners last year with a thrilling Sunday finish to capture the Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson, making birdie on the 72nd hole and then defeating Sungjae Im with a par on the first extra hole.

Now, for the first time in his career, he will defend a title with his return this week to Mississippi.

“I thought about it when I was coming in, and I was like, well, if you think about it, if I don’t win, like everything would be negative if I don’t win,” Munoz said Wednesday after his pro-am round. “And that’s not fair. So it’s like, I’m just glad to be here in a place that I’ve played really good, where I like the people, and just try to do my best. It’s not like I’m going to focus on just defending my title but just having a good tournament at a place that I like.”

It’s a thoughtful approach, and the latest example of Munoz working on the mental side of the game. His victory set forth his best season on the PGA Tour, as he added three more top-10s, cracked the top 100 in the official world rankings for the first time, started the FedEx Cup Playoffs with seven consecutive birdies, and made it to the Tour Championship for the first time, where he tied for eighth in the FedEx Cup.

Sanderson Farms Championship: Tee times | Fantasy | Best bets

But he also missed 10 cuts, half of them coming after the Tour restarted following a 13-week break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Along the way, as he continued to work on his game, he attended to the six inches between his ears.

“I’ve been really happy with my mental toughness. I think that’s a big improvement from a couple years ago,” said Munoz, 27, who is ranked No. 76 in the world. “I had a really good fall and then kind of falloff after COVID. I had a little bump coming back from COVID, which was hard to take, but I remained positive and tough and managed to steer around.

“I still think I can control all the environment and all my results, and it’s just not true. I mean, golf is a tough sport, and it’s a really tough sport that you might be feeling great but you still might not be getting the results that you get.

“I think one thing I can get better at is just kind of not let the golf course play around with my mind at home.”

That would be his new home in Dallas he and his new bride, Daniela Granados, purchased three months ago. Back in Big D, he didn’t mind thinking about the Country Club of Jackson, where he feels right at home. He shot 70-67-63-70 last year and remembered quite a few of those shots during practice rounds and the pro-am this year.

“I just couldn’t help it; every hole I just remember last time I was here,” he said. “Like on 11 the draw I hit, and on 15 where I made bogey and then that little corner where me and my caddie talked about turning it around and making a big hole somewhere.

“I just couldn’t help it. Then on 18, like walking up the green, it was like, oh, this is nice. It’s different, there’s not the grandstand, but I can still feel the magic, the aura, the energy of the place just buzzing. So it was pretty special.”

Speaking of special, Munoz will make his Masters debut in November. He would have made his debut in April but COVID delayed matters. The Masters is the only major he hasn’t played in – he’s missed three cuts and tied for 59th in the U.S. Open this year. But he feels better prepared to tackled the grandest stages in golf, both physically and mentally.

“The goals this year are to keep improving my game, become a top-50 golfer in the world and just keep getting experience from the big tournaments,” he said. “I felt like I still feel a little more pressure in those events, so just feel more comfortable and see what happens.

“I feel really happy with my mind. I feel like the swing stuff has been working good since a year ago. there’s always little tweaks here and there, but the thing that’s improved the most is I think my head and not making it a big thing and just going out and playing golf, which is how I play the best.”

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U.S. Open: Brian Harman, four others now in Winged Foot field

The initial field of 144 players for next week’s U.S. Open was finalized with five players from the final 2019-20 FedExCup points list.

The initial field of 144 players for next week’s U.S. Open was finalized Tuesday with the addition of the five players from the final 2019-20 FedExCup points list not otherwise exempt. Sebastian Munoz, Brian Harman, Tyler Duncan, Mark Hubbard and Danny Lee were the last ones in.

All players have until 5 p.m. Friday to confirm whether they will play in the championship Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck.

With traditional qualifying deemed unsafe in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the USGA in June issued the list of exemptions that would be used to set up the field this year. There are two locals in the field, Danny Balin, a Valhalla resident who is the head professional at Fresh Meadow Country Club on Long Island, and Brandon Wu, a Korn Ferry Tour winner who resided in Scarsdale prior to the start of his pro career.

120th U.S. Open field

Byeong Hun An
Abraham Ancer
a-John Augenstein
Danny Balin
Paul Barjon
Daniel Berger
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Keegan Bradley
Rafa Cabrera Bello
Patrick Cantlay
Paul Casey
a-Ricky Castillo
Cameron Champ
Corey Conners
Joel Dahmen
Jason Day
Bryson DeChambeau
Thomas Detry
Tyler Duncan
Harris English
Tony Finau
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Tommy Fleetwood
Rickie Fowler
Ryan Fox
Sergio Garcia
Lucas Glover
Lanto Griffin
Chesson Hadley
Adam Hadwin
a-Cole Hammer
Justin Harding
Brian Harman
Tyrrell Hatton
Scott Hend
Lucas Herbert
Jim Herman
Lee Hodges
Rasmus Hojgaard
Max Homa
Billy Horschel
Sam Horsfield
Viktor Hovland
Charles Howell
Mark Hubbard
Mackenzie Hughes
Sungjae Im
Shugo Imahira
Ryo Ishikawa
Stephan Jaeger
Jazz Janewattananond
Marty Jertson
Dustin Johnson
Zach Johnson
Matt Jones
a-Takumi Kanaya
Sunghoon Kang
Martin Kaymer
Chan Kim
Si Woo Kim
Kevin Kisner
Kurt Kitayama
Brooks Koepka
Jason Kokrak
Matt Kuchar
Romain Langasque
Danny Lee
Marc Leishman
Tom Lewis
Adam Long
Mike Lorenzo-Vera
Shane Lowry
Curtis Luck
Robert MacIntyre
Hideki Matsuyama
Dan McCarthy
Graeme McDowell
Rory McIlroy
Troy Merritt
a-Lukas Michel
Phil Mickelson
Collin Morikawa
Sebastian Munoz
Kevin Na
Joaquin Niemann
Alex Noren
Shaun Norris
a-Andy Ogletree
Louis Oosthuizen
Adrian Otaegui
a-John Pak
Ryan Palmer
Renato Paratore
Taylor Pendrith
Eddie Pepperell
Victor Perez
Thomas Pieters
J.T. Poston
Ian Poulter
Andrew Putnam
Jon Rahm
Chez Reavie
Patrick Reed
Davis Riley
JC Ritchie
Justin Rose
a-Eduard Rousaud
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Matthias Schwab
Adam Scott
a-Sandy Scott
Greyson Sigg
Webb Simpson
Cameron Smith
Brandt Snedeker
Jordan Spieth
Henrik Stenson
Kevin Streelman
Steve Stricker
a-James Sugrue
Andy Sullivan
a-Preston Summerhays
Connor Syme
Justin Thomas
a-Davis Thompson
Michael Thompson
Brendon Todd
Sami Valimaki
Erik van Rooyen
Ryan Vermeer
Jimmy Walker
Matt Wallace
Bubba Watson
Richy Werenski
Lee Westwood
Bernd Wiesberger
Danny Willett
Matthew Wolff
Gary Woodland
Tiger Woods
Brandon Wu
a-Chun An Yu
Will Zalatoris

Mike Dougherty covers golf for The Journal News/lohud, part of the USA Today Network. He can be reached at mdougher@lohud.com or on Twitter @hoopsmbd and @lohudgolf.

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Arnold Palmer Invitational odds, predictions, picks and PGA Tour best bets

Analyzing the golf betting odds to win the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational, with PGA Tour betting odds, picks, predictions and best bets.

Five of the top 10 golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings are in the field this week at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Fla., for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Eight-time champion and 11th-ranked golfer Tiger Woods won’t be on hand, as he ensures his body is in peak shape for next month’s Masters. Below, we look at the golf betting odds and make our picks to win the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

The key stats for the 7,454-yard, par-72 Bay Hill Club and Lodge are:

  • Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
  • Opportunities Gained
  • Sand Saves Gained
  • Par 3 Efficiency: 200-225 Yards
  • Proximity from 200-plus Yards

My model at Fantasy National looks at the most recent 36 rounds for each golfer in the field.

Arnold Palmer Invitational Betting Picks – Tier 1

(Photo Credit: Orlando Ramirez – USA TODAY Sports)

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday at 4:15 a.m. ET.

Rory McIlroy (+500)

No one in the field with a minimum of 10 rounds played at Bay Hill has gained more strokes per round than McIlroy’s 2.78, according to Data Golf. The 2018 champ followed it up with a T-6 finish last year, and he tied for fourth in 2017.

He has finished in the top five in each of his last six worldwide events, including a win at the WGC-HSBC Champions. He’ll defend his 2019 Players Championship crown next week.

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Brooks Koepka (+2800)

The books seem to be toying with us by continuing to offer these lofty odds on the former world No. 1. He missed the cut at last week’s Honda Classic following a T-43 at the Genesis Invitational, and has had poor results here with a missed cut in 2017 and 2019. Auto-betting him at these odds is just a good overall strategy because as soon as he wins again, he’s back down to less than 10/1.

Arnold Palmer Invitational Betting Picks – Tier 2

(Photo Credit: Kyle Terada – USA TODAY Sports)

Joaquin Niemann (+8000)

Niemann ranks second to only McIlroy in my stat model. He’s fifth in the field in opportunities gained and 11th in Proximity from the key distance. He tied for 46th last year, but has since picked up his first PGA Tour win.

Francesco Molinari (+9000)

A $10 bet on the defending champ would return a profit of $900 if he were to go back-to-back. The last golfer to win at Bay Hill in consecutive years was Matt Every in 2014 and 2015, and needless to say, Molinari is the far more accomplished golfer. He ranks second to McIlroy with 2.21 strokes gained per round at this venue in 28 career rounds played.

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Arnold Palmer Invitational Betting Picks – Longshots

(Photo Credit: Kyle Terada – USA TODAY Sports)

Charles Howell III (+10000)

Howell has played 72 career rounds at Bay Hill to rank fourth in the field. He’s coming off a T-53 finish at the WGC-Mexico Championship following a T-59 at the Genesis Invitational, but his experience is worth a shot at these long odds.

Sebastian Munoz (+10000)

Like Niemann, Munoz has a win already in the 2019-20 PGA Tour season. He comes into the week ranked third in my stat model and 76th in the Golfweek rankings. He leads the field in Opportunities Gained and ranks fifth in scoring on the long par 3s.

Get some action on this tournament by signing up and betting at BetMGM. If you’re looking for more sports betting picks and tips, access all of our content at SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @EstenMcLaren and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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WGC-Mexico Championship odds, predictions, picks and PGA Tour best bets

Analyzing the golf betting odds to win the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship, with PGA Tour betting odds, picks, predictions and best bets.

Eight of the top 10 golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings are in attendance for this week’s WGC-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec near Mexico City, Mexico. Below, we’ll analyze the golf betting odds, while making our picks to win the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship.

The key stats for the 7,345-yard, par-71 Club de Golf Chapultepec are:

  • Strokes Gained: Approach
  • Strokes Gained: Scrambling
  • Opportunities Gained
  • Bogeys Avoided
  • Proximity from 150-175 Yards
  • Par 4 Efficiency: 400-450 Yards

My model at Fantasy National looks at the most recent 24 rounds for each golfer in the field on courses shorter than 7,200 yards. It’s a more accurate depiction of Chapultepec’s length due to the elevation of nearly 1.5 miles above sea level.

WGC-Mexico Championship – Tier 1

Feb 16, 2020; Pacific Palisades, California, USA; Adam Scott meets with Rory McIlroy following his victory in the final round of the The Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club. (Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez – USA TODAY Sports)

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Rory McIlroy (+550)

McIlroy, the No. 1 golfer in the world, entered Sunday’s final round of last week’s Genesis Invitational as a co-leader but struggled to a T-5 finish with a final round of 2-over par 73. It was his worst finish in five worldwide events since a T-26 at the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

He leads this week’s stat model in Bogeys Avoided and SG: Scrambling. He was the runner-up to Dustin Johnson last year (by five strokes), and he tied for seventh in 2017.

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Adam Scott (+2000)

Scott’s win last week was his second straight victory after winning the Australian PGA Championship to conclude his 2019 season. The 2013 Masters champion has won two WGC events in his career, including the 2016 Cadillac Championship, which was the former name of this event when played in Doral, Fla. He went back-to-back that year as well, winning the WGC the week after the Honda Classic.

WGC-Mexico Championship – Tier 2

Feb 1, 2020; Scottsdale, Arizona, USA; Byeong-Hun An tees off on the first during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale – USA TODAY Sports)

Byeong Hun An (+6600)

An has played this event two of the last three years, finishing T-48 in 2017 and T-45 last year. He enters the week ranked 40th in the world, but he hasn’t competed since a T-9 finish at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

He’s one of the best in the field at scrambling and from the key proximity distance. An has lost strokes putting at five straight measured events and just needs to be average with the flat stick.

Tyrrell Hatton (+6600)

Hatton is a strong value play with three straight top-20 finishes at this event in Mexico. He finished alone in 10th in 2017, tied for third in 2018 and tied for 19th last year. He enters the week well-rested, after last appearing at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in late November. He won the Turkish Airlines Open in his second-to-last event for his fourth professional win.

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WGC-Mexico Championship – Longshots

Aug 24, 2019; Atlanta, GA, USA; Chez Reavie plays his shot from the third tee during the third round of the Tour Championship golf tournament at East Lake Golf Club. (Photo Credit: Butch Dill – USA TODAY Sports)

Chez Reavie (+10000)

Reavie has rebounded from a horrid stretch of three straight missed cuts to finish T-25 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and T-10 at last week’s Genesis Invitational. He doesn’t have a strong history at this event with a T-52 finish in 2018 and T-65 last year, but he enters this year’s tournament 13th in the stat model while leaning on a strong approach game.

Sebastian Munoz (+15000)

Munoz opened the Genesis Invitational 69-69 before slipping down the leaderboard over the weekend en route to a T-26 finish. The native of Colombia will make his professional debut at Chapultepec. He already has a win in the 2019-20 PGA Tour season, but only 12 members of the 72-man field have worse odds to win.

Get some action on this tournament by signing up and betting at BetMGM. If you’re looking for more sports betting picks and tips, access all of our content at SportsbookWire.com.

Follow @EstenMcLaren and @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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What are PGA Tour pros doing this off-season? We asked

A seemingly endless PGA Tour schedule is finally in the books for 2019. How do Tour pros plan to spend their “off-season” and the holidays?

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — A seemingly endless PGA Tour schedule is finally in the books for 2019 with the conclusion of the RSM Classic, the last official event of the decade (let the Silly Season begin!).

How do Tour pros plan to spend their “off-season” and the holidays? We asked 18 pros after the RSM Classic.

Weddings, surgeries, pulled wisdom teeth, hunting and fishing, and — shocker — more golf are on the agenda.

(Photo: Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports)

Scott Brown

“If you’re looking for me, I’ll be hunting. I went deer hunting 20 of the last 25 days before going to Mayakoba. It’s fun to try to kill something bigger than you.”

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Tyler Duncan wins RSM Classic with birdie at 18

Tyler Duncan wins his first PGA Tour title at the 2019 RSM Classic in dramatic fashion.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Tyler Duncan sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole of the RSM Classic to win his first PGA Tour title over Webb Simpson.

On a cool, blustery day, Duncan birdied the final two holes to tie Simpson. He made only one bogey all week and fired a 5-under 65 Sunday and 72-hole total of 19-under 261 at Sea Island Resort’s Seaside Course.

Simpson birdied two of his final holes and signed for a 3-under 67, but lost in a playoff at Sea Island for the second time in his career.

RSM CLASSIC: Scores | Gallery

The wheels finally came off for Brendon Todd, who was attempting to become the first player to win in three consecutive weeks on the Tour schedule since Tiger Woods in 2006, and the first to win three consecutive starts since Dustin Johnson in 2017.

Dating to the final round of the Houston Open, Todd hadn’t shot higher than 68 in his last 12 rounds, but he punched a 7-iron from 148 yards into the hazard to the right and made double bogey to squander the lead. Then his putter let him down as he missed a series of makeable birdie and par putts. He didn’t circle his first birdie on the card until 15 and closed in 2-over 72 to finish fourth.

Simpson charged early with birdies at Nos. 1 and 3 to erase his two-stroke deficit at the start of the day. Then he strung together 10 pars in a row before a bogey at 14 dropped him into a tie with Sebastián Muñoz and Duncan.

Muñoz, the winner of the Sanderson Farms Championship in a playoff, capped off a terrific fall season with a third-place finish after shooting 2-under 68 to finish at 18 under. Muñoz had a 26-foot birdie putt to tie for the lead, but missed it to the left.

Duncan, who had only three top-10 finishes in 67 previous starts, played his first 54 holes bogey-free until making his only hiccup of the week, a bogey on No. 1 on Sunday. But he poured in four birdies through 15 holes to share the lead with Simpson and Muñoz, who both birdied the short par-5 15th to pull in front of Duncan. The 30-year-old Purdue grad answered at the par-3 17th, sticking his tee shot to 7 feet and rolling in the putt, and then, for good measure, draining a 25-footer at 18 for birdie.

Simpson canned a 22-foot birdie putt at 16 and parred in for 67. But he still hasn’t won the RSM Classic after losing in a playoff in 2011 and finishing third in 2018 at the RSM Classic.

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