Associated Press photo by Rogelio V. Solis / Sebastian Munoz pumps his fist after sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to force a playoff in the Sanderson Farms Championship on Sunday in Jackson, Miss. Munoz won a playoff to earn his first PGA Tour victory.JACKSON, Miss. - Sebastian Munoz didn't think he was good enough for the PGA Tour until he watched Carlos Ortiz, his college teammate at North Texas, reach the big leagues.
He wasn't sure he was good enough to win until watching Joaquin Niemann celebrate his first PGA Tour victory - and the first for a golfer from Chile - last week.
Munoz was on his own late Sunday afternoon in the Sanderson Farms Championship, and he delivered all the right shots.
Down to his last stroke at Country Club of Jackson, the 26-year-old Colombian holed a 15-foot birdie putt for a 2-under-par 70 to force a playoff with South Korea's Sungjae Im. And in the playoff, he let Im make the more crucial mistake.
Munoz hit a chip-and-run shot to push the ball to just less than four feet from the hole, then made the par putt for his first PGA Tour victory.
"Jaco's win gave me the belief I needed, the little extra belief (that) I'm good enough, I'm here," Munoz said of Niemman's title.
It was the first time in tour history that players from different South American countries won in successive weeks. Colombia's Camilo Villegas won the final two events of the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2008.
Now, Munoz not only has a two-year exemption, he will start next year on Maui at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, compete at The Players Championship for the first time and then head to Augusta National Golf Club for the Masters.
He knew everything that was at stake. He just tried to forget about it when he reached the 18th green knowing he needed a birdie.
"I was lucky enough to keep my focus on 18," Munoz said. "I was just thinking about striking it, not on the perks. Not on how it could change my life."
Seven days earlier, Niemann won A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier by six shots. Munoz had it far more difficult.
He was among four players in the mix over the back nine Sunday, and it looked as though the 21-year-old Im would snatch his first PGA Tour victory when he made a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 14th hole, got up and down from a bunker on the reachable 15th for birdie, then made it three straight birdies with a 12-foot putt.
He closed with a 66, and that looked like it might be enough.
South Korea's Byeong Hun An made consecutive bogeys to fall out of the mix, shooting a 69 and winding up third at 17 under. Mexico's Ortiz, who played with Munoz in the final group, couldn't get a putt to fall and wound up tied for fourth with the United States' Kevin Streelman (64) at 16 under.
Munoz lost two good scoring opportunities by driving well right of the fairway on the 14th and then flubbing a lob shot left of the 15th green that went into the bunker, leading to bogey. Down to his last hole, he played it to perfection with a big drive, an approach to 15 feet below the hole and the most important shot of his young career.
He poured in the birdie putt to join Im at 18-under 270. The playoff on the 18th hole wasn't as clean.
Im went left into the Bermuda rough and caught a flier, sending the ball well over the green against the grandstand. Munoz was in the right rough and, expecting the ball to come out hot, he abbreviated his swing and it came out some 30 yards short. He made up for it, though.
Im did well to pitch out of rough to just more than six feet by the hole, but his par putt didn't even touch the cup and he started walking soon after he hit it.
The five-way tie for sixth at 15 under included former Baylor School and University of Georgia golfer Harris English. His closing 69 gave him his second straight strong finish to open the season, having shared third at the Greenbrier.
Willett wins BMW
VIRGINIA WATER, England - Danny Willett won a European Tour event on home soil for the first time in his career, closing with a 5-under 67 to finish at 20-under 268 and post a three-shot victory over Spain's Jon Rahm at the BMW PGA Championship.
The 31-year-old Englishman won for the seventh time on the European Tour, but it's only his second victory since being the surprise winner at the 2016 Masters. Willett, who played college golf at Jacksonville State in Alabama, had not won since the DP World Tour Championship last November.
He dropped only one shot in the final round at Wentworth Golf Club - it was on the par-4 11th, and it could have been much worse - to hold off the 24-year-old Rahm, who is No. 6 in the World Golf Ranking.
Willett was ranked 58th entering the tournament but will move to just outside the top 30 today. He had fallen to 462nd in May 2018 after missing the cut at Wentworth.
"This week has been one of those fairytales to win on home soil," Willett said. "Had a couple of good chances here before, and the crowd weren't going to let me throw it away."
Rahm, who had shared the 54-hole lead with Willett, closed with a 70 to finish a stroke ahead of South Africa's Christiaan Bezuidenhout (68).
A pair of Americans shared fourth at 15 under, with Billy Horschel closing with a 65 and Patrick Reed finishing with a 66.
Duke fades late
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Rocco Mediate needed just about everything to go right for him to win the Sanford International, and it did.
Ken Duke had everything go wrong on the last hole, and it helped Mediate to his first PGA Tour Champions victory in three years.
Mediate made a birdie on each of his last two holes for a 6-under 64 at Minnehaha Country Club. He won after Duke, tied for the lead going into the final hole, caught two nasty lies in the rough and made a double bogey to complete a 69.
Mediate finished at 9-under 201 to win the 54-hole tournament by two shots. It's the fourth title on the 50-and-older tour for the 56-year-old American but his first since the 2016 Senior PGA Championship. He was a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, famously falling to Tiger Woods in a playoff at the 2008 U.S. Open.
Duke had a share of the lead going into the final round for the first time in 488 starts across the three circuits sanctioned by the PGA Tour. He wound up sharing second place with Bob Estes and Colin Montgomerie, who each closed with a 67.
Steve Flesch (68) and Jay Haas (66) tied for fifth at 6 under.