Ben Griffin was not able to hold onto a three-shot lead after 54 holes of the Sanderson Farms Championship, while searching for his first PGA Tour victory. Although he shot a final-round 74 he stood over an eight-foot putt for par on the 72nd hole to win at Mississippi's Country Club of Jackson, but the putt slid painfully right of the cup, allowing four others into a playoff against him.
With daylight an issue, and a fivesome playing down the 18th again in the playoff, there wasn't a gurantee there was enough time to play a second playoff hole. But it was Luke List, Ludvig Aberg, Scott Stallings and Henrik Norlander and Griffin left to decide things.
However, List quickly slammed the door on his second PGA Tour victory by draining a 43-foot birdie putt. He shot 66-66-68-70 for an 18-under-par 270 total to take home the $1.476 million first prize. List previously won the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
It was Griffin and Carl Yuan who were the most heartbroken late in the afternoon. Griffin for how close he came to winning for the first time, which would've put a perfect down on his unusual professional golf journey, which has has been fairly well-chronicled. Upon graduating from North Carolina in 2018 after earning All-American honors, he played his away on to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 but struggled.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and mounting expense added up, and the life of an aspiring tour pro didn’t seem like all it was cracked up to be. So in spring 2021, he stepped away to become a mortgage loan officer. But later that summer, Griffin got the itch again, and with the help of some local sponsors, returned to golf, eventually earning a Korn Ferry Tour card for 2022. Solid play there, allowed the 27-year-old to get his PGA Tour card for 2023, and a T-3 finish at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship started giving him the confidence he was on the track he had hoped for from the beginning.
Yuan's range of emotions over the last two holes were quite the roller coaster. He needed something amazing to happen over the last two holes to get into a playoff and it appeared possible for a moment. He was 119 yards from the pin on the par-4 17th hole and dunked his second shot for an eagle, the ball slamming into the bottom of the hole. Then on the 18th hole in regulation he failed to get up and down from short of the green and made bogey, when a par would've put him into the massive playoff. He collected $276,750 for his three-way tie for sixth place.
The overall purse in Mississippi is $8.2 million. Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer who made the cut.
Win: Luke List, -18/270, $1,476,000
T-2: Ben Griffin, -18/270, $549,400
T-2: Henrik Norlander, -18/270, $549,400
T-2: Ludvig Aberg, -18/270, $549,400
T-2: Scott Stallings, -18/270, $549,400
T-6: Carl Yuan, -17/271, $276,750
T-6: Mark Hubbard, -17/271, $276,750
T-6: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, -17, 271, $276,750
T-9: C.T. Pan, -16/272, $223,450
T-9: Troy Merritt, -16/272, $223,450
T-9: Cameron Champ, -16/272, $223,450
12: Zecheng Dou, -15/273, $190,650
T-13: Brett White, -13/275, $160,583.33
T-13: Tom Hoge, -13/275, $160,583.33
T-13: Joel Dahmen, -13/275, $160,583.33
T-16: Garrick Higgo, -12/276, $109,196.67
T-16: Ben Martin, -12/276, $109,196.67
T-16: Tyler Duncan, -12/276, $109,196.67
T-16: Kelly Kraft, -12/276, $109,196.67
T-16: Davis Thompson, -12/276, $109,196.67
T-16: Alex Smalley, -12/276, $109,196.67
T-16: Chad Ramey, -12/276, $109,196.67
T-16: Erik van Rooyen, -12/276, $109,196.67
T-16: Adam Svensson, -12/276, $109,196.67
T-25: Stephan Jaeger, -11/277, $67,376.67
T-25: Matt NeSmith, -11/277, $67,376.67
T-25: Peter Kuest, -11/277, $67,376.67
T-28: Lucas Herbert, -10/278, $53,768.57
T-28: Kevin Chappell, -10/278, $53,768.57
T-28: Vince Whaley, -10/278, $53,768.57
T-28: Beau Hossler, -10/278, $53,768.57
T-28: Russell Knox, -10/278, $53,768.57
T-28: Harrison Endycott, -10/278, $53,768.57
T-28: Lanto Griffin, -10/278, $53,768.57
T-35: Adam Long, -9/279, $38,283.75
T-35: Kramer Hickok, -9/279, $38,283.75
T-35: Hank Lebioda, -9/279, $38,283.75
T-35: Eric Cole, -9/279, $38,283.75
T-35: Robert Streb, -9/279, $38,283.75
T-35: Scott Harrington, -9/279, $38,283.75
T-35: Nick Hardy, -9/279, $38,283.75
T-35: Chesson Hadley, -9/279, $38,283.75
T-43: Callum Tarren, -8/280, $25,379
T-43: Jimmy Walker, -8/280, $25,379
T-43: Akshay Bhatia, -8/280, $25,379
T-43: Alex Noren, -8/280, $25,379
T-43: Lee Hodges, -8/280, $25,379
T-43: Cameron Percy, -8/280, $25,379
T-43: Nicholas Lindheim, -8/280, $25,379
T-43: Cody Gribble, -8/280, $25,379
T-51: Kevin Kisner, -7/281, $19,827.60
T-51: Sam Ryder, -7/281, $19,827.60
T-51: David Lipsky, -7/281, $19,827.60
T-51: Peter Malnati, -7/281, $19,827.60
T-51: Tommy Gainey, -7/281, $19,827.60
T-56: Doc Redman, -6/282, $18,696
T-56: Dylan Frittelli, -6/282, $18,696
T-56: Kyle Westmoreland, -6/282, $18,696
T-56: Andrew Landry, -6/282, $18,696
T-56: Chris Baker, -6/282, $18,696
T-56: Martin Laird, -6/282, $18,696
T-62: Brandon Wu, -5/283, $17,958
T-62: Michael Gligic, -5/283, $17,958
T-62: Wesley Bryan, -5/283, $17,958
T-65: Brandt Snedeker, -4/284, $17,466
T-65: Ross Steelman, -4/284, $17,466
T-65: Richy Werenski, -4/284, $17,466
T-68: Austin Cook, -3/285, $16,974
T-68: Ryan Palmer, -3/285, $16,974
T-68: Harry Higgs, -3/285, $16,974
T-71: Chris Stroud, -2/286, $16,564
T-71: William McGirt, -2/286, $16,564
T-73: Ben Taylor, -1/287, $16,236
T-73: Trevor Cone, -1/287, $16,236
T-75: Jonas Blixt, E/288, $15,908
T-75: Ted Potter, Jr., E/288, $15,908
T-77: Ford Clegg, +2/290, $15,580
T-77: Jim Herman, +2/290, $15,580
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