For the first time in his young career, Kevin Yu has found his way into the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour. Chasing down the final pairing and setting the clubhouse lead at 23 under, Yu defeated Beau Hossler on the first playoff hole with a birdie to claim the 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship.
With the win, Yu secures his playing privileges on the PGA Tour for the next two years and earns invitations into the 2025 Sentry, Masters and PGA Championship. He climbs all the way up to No. 60 in the FedEx Cup standings and now finds himself on the inside track to finish in the top 60, which would grant him access to the first two signature events of 2025 — the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational.
“I’m excited inside my mind but I’m trying to be as calm as possible from outside,” Yu said. “Just really I feel like I took a little break from last month, really helped me. I feel like I was playing great, and just mentally, I was just kind of tired, frustrated, and just feel like momentum [wasn’t] going anywhere in the last maybe six months. Then today out there I was trying to do my best on everything and trying to … I did a pretty good job out there today.”
Yu began the final round at The Country Club of Jackson two strokes off the pace set by 54-hole leader Keith Mitchell. While Mitchell and Hossler exchanged punches in the final group, the 26-year-old went about his business. After playing his first seven holes in even par, Yu found a different gear coming down the stretch.
Carding five birdies in his last 10 holes — including a clutch 15-foot conversion on the 72nd hole — Yu did just enough to surpass Lucas Glover in the clubhouse and post the lead on his own. When Mitchell three-putted for bogey and Hossler saved par after needing to chip out from behind a tree, a playoff was set.
Like in regulation, Yu found the middle of the fairway and did one better as his approach settled inside 6 feet the second time around on the par-4 finisher. With Hossler once again finding trouble off the tee and unable to find the green in regulation, Yu’s birdie putt sealed the deal and sealed the biggest moment of his PGA Tour career.
“It’s literally a dream come true,” Yu said. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was 5. I think this is the dream for all the golfers, to win on PGA Tour, and I did it today.”
Here are the grades for the rest of the notables on the leaderboard at the 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship.
T3. Keith Mitchell (-22): The 54-hole leader’s final round was bookended by three-putt bogeys with the second coming in the most grueling of fashions. After squandering his overnight advantage, Mitchell settled into his day and ultimately found himself holding a two-stroke lead with five holes to play. With his ball striking not cooperating, the smooth-swinging right hander scratched and clawed to the final hole with a share of the lead. Finding the fairway (his only one on the back nine) and the green in regulation, Mitchell’s birdie bid from 35 feet to win grazed the bottom edge and ran 4 feet past. His par putt to join Yu at 23 under did the same and saw Mitchell exit the green on the outside looking in for extra holes. Grade: A
7. Daniel Berger (-20): Remember him? The former top-10 golfer in the world played like one this week as he notched his best finish on the PGA Tour since the 2022 Memorial. That week at Jack’s place was his second-to-last tournament before getting sidelined due to injury. It has been tough sledding since as he has missed 11 cuts in 22 starts this year but insists this is as healthy as he has been in quite some time. He jumps onto the top 125 bubble in the FedEx Cup and will battle the rest of the fall to keep full-time PGA Tour status. Grade: A
T8. Mackenzie Hughes (-19): The lone competitor to make the trip from Montreal to Jackson, Hughes more than maintained his form from his Presidents Cup debut. Firing two rounds in the mid 60s including a final-round 64 to catapult his name up the leaderboard, the Canadian kept his spot atop the FedEx Cup Fall. With back-to-back top-10 finishes to his name, Hughes finds himself on the trajectory of winning before the calendar flips to the new year. Grade: B+
T16. Rickie Fowler (-17): Teeing it up for the first time since The Open, Fowler fired four straight rounds in the 60s to finish inside the top 20 for just the third time all year. It was a well-rounded effort as his short game flashed brilliance, his iron play had its moments and he ranked inside the top 10 in terms of driving accuracy. He remains outside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup but inched closer to solidifying his spot in the Players Championship field. Grade: B
T28. Nick Dunlap (-15): The two-time PGA Tour winner entered the week as the only player who finished inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings in the 2024 season and struck the ball as such. Ranking inside the top 10 in strokes gained approach and strokes gained tee to green, Dunlap was undone by his efforts (or lack thereof) on the greens. Unable to consistently connect on his ample birdie opportunities, the Alabama product was left in the dust and had to settle for just a top-30 result. Grade: C
