Luke List stuns 5-man playoff to win Sanderson Farms Championship

The PGA Tour official made it clear on the tee: these guys would likely come back tomorrow.

“If this playoff goes into tomorrow, which is likely, we will resume from this tee tomorrow morning,” the official told the five players about to start a playoff for the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Luke List must not have heard him.

After getting a read on Ludvig Aberg’s birdie try, List, just the second player to attempt his third in the playoff, drilled a 43-foot putt to turn out the lights at the Country Club of Jackson and win the Sanderson Farms Championship.

It’s the 38-year-old’s second career win after breaking through at Torrey Pines last year.

List still had to contend with three more tries for birdie, but Ben Griffin didn’t even get his attempt to the cup, and Scott Stallings and Henrik Norlander both missed from off the green.

It was an improbable ending to a playoff that was just as improbable 20 minutes earlier.

Ben Griffin, the overnight leader by three strokes, despite shaky play for much of the final round held a two-stroke lead with just three holes to play, after many of his rivals couldn’t finish off their challenges.

However, Griffin couldn’t either after he bogeyed 16 and short-sided himself on 18. His par putt from 8-foot-3 inches on the final green to win by one agonizingly floated over the right edge of the cup.

It was an emotional end to the day for Griffin, who held the 54-hole lead for the second time in his PGA Tour rookie season. Griffin now-famously quit the game in April 2021 before picking it back up that summer and working his way to a Tour card for this season.

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However, going off more than an hour before Griffin’s final group, List quietly posted 18 under thanks to a two-under 70 in Round 4. When he finished, he was two shots out of the lead, with several players ahead of him challenging Griffin’s shrinking lead.

The playoff could have easily been seven players. Mark Hubbard made eagle on the par-5 14th from 293 yards out to shoot into contention, but he finished with consecutive bogeys to finish a shot back at 17 under.

Carl Yuan got to 18 under as well by holing his second shot from the fairway on 17, but his drive struck a tree on 18 and he bogeyed to miss out on the playoff.

As for the others in the playoff, Aberg shot the lowest final round of the bunch with a 68. He finished nearly an hour and a half ahead of Griffin.

The T2 finish is his best his short PGA Tour career after being the only player from last week’s Ryder Cup in the field this week.

Stallings and Norlander also both shot 70 to get in at 18 under, and both missed the green with their approaches in the playoff. However, they ended up being the two closest to the pin and were the final two chances to extend the playoff.