Miracle For Munoz — Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner At Sanderson

Sebastian Munoz started Sunday with the overnight lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship but things didn’t exactly go his way for most of the final round.

The 26-year-old from Bogata, Columbia, made just one birdie over his first 10 holes then finally added another at the 11th to grab the lead with seven to play.

It looked like a disaster when he bogeyed the 298-yard par four 15th, a hole where most contenders were making birdies, including Rookie Of The Year Sunjae Im.  In fact, Im’s birdie at 15 was the second of three straight that carried him into the lead at 18-under par.

Im, playing well ahead of Munoz, finished with par and posted 18-under, then went to the putting green to wait on Munoz.

After flubbing 15, Munoz parred 16 and 17 and stood on the tee at the 486-yard 18th, knowing he’d have to birdie the hardest hole on the course just to tie Im.  He crushed his drive and had just 164 yards from the fairway.  His second was all over the flag but came up 15-feet short.  Im was on the practice putting green, keeping himself busy.  The roar from the crowd surrounding 18 let him know that Munoz holed that birdie putt to tie him at 18-under.

This one was over quickly.  Both players missed the fairway and knew a par would be a good score.  Im’s second flew the green and finished up against the stands.  Munoz’s second came out dead and stopped a good 10-yards short of the green leaving him well over 100 feet to the hole.  After Im spent an inordinate amount of time figuring out where he wanted to drop his ball, Munoz chipped inside four feet to put the pressure on Im.

Im’s drop left him with a gnarly lie.  He hit a great pitch but still found himself with a good six-and-a-half feet for par.  He pulled his putt badly and watched as Munoz calmly holed his for the win,, the first of his career.

“It was just a great day,” Munoz said after he notched the win.  “Putts weren’t going in but kept telling myself ‘it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming.’  I’m speechless.”

Munoz talked about the 15-footer for birdie at the 18th during regulation play and said, “I don’t know, just tried to make it as simple as I could.”  He simply made it to force the playoff.

He said that Joaquin Nieman’s win last week gave him a boost.

“Joaquin’s win made me believe,” he said of his friend’s victory at The Greenbrier.

Sanderson Farms Scoreboard: