[PHOTO: Raj Mehta]
Sometimes you just need a break. Citing the closing stretch of the season as “a grind”, Kevin Yu returned to his native Taiwan after the Wyndham Championship finished out a run of five events with nothing better than a T-52 and three missed cuts.
The sabbatical, which included little golf but mind-relaxing fishing, paid off in Yu’s first PGA Tour title at the Sanderson Farms Championship – an unlikely win that came in overtime over Beau Hossler.
Unlikely because it appeared Keith Mitchell was headed for victory. Yu, however, birdied the last hole from 15 feet and Mitchell three-jacked it in the final group, setting up the playoff with Hossler that Yu won when he staked an iron from 156 metres to six feet and made the putt.
Making putts is the thing Yu did best in Mississippi. He ranked second in strokes gained/putting, bettering the field average by nearly nine shots while averaging 108 feet of putts made per round, also topping the field in that stat. That resulted in a tournament-best 28 birdies as well.
As for that break from playing, Yu said, “I went back to Taiwan, and finally my mind can settle down a little bit. So just that mindset I feel like it’s fresh and ready to go, and it helped me quite a bit in I think in a lot of outcomes. That definitely helped a lot.”
Indeed it did.
The clubs Kevin Yu used to win the Sanderson Farms Championship:
Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour X
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Max (Mitsubishi Tensei 1K 70 TX), 8.5 degrees
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max, 16.5 degrees
Irons (3): Srixon ZX MkII; (4-PW): Callaway Apex TCB
Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (46, 56 degrees); Callaway Opus (52 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM10 WedgeWorks (60 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey Ai One Milled Six T