American golfer Vince Whaley risked it all to save himself a shot as his countryman Steven Fisk went on to capture his first PGA Tour title with victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi.
Whaley stunned golf fans by hitting from the water’s edge with an alligator way too close for comfort by during the final round.
The 30-year-old took off his shoes and socks, and rolled up his pants, to play his third shot at the par 5 11th while standing in the water with an alligator visibly within striking distance.
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“My heart rate is elevated just watching this,” former professional Curt Byrum said on Golf Channel’s coverage.
Whaley managed to hit his ball short of the green, and get up-and-down to save par, but golf clubs around the world will no doubt be advising players against replicating such actions.
It did not help Whaley claim a maiden PGA Tour win, as he finished in a tied for third at 17-under with a five-under par final round of 67, five shots behind Fisk.
The risky action did help Whaley edge closer to obtaining a PGA Tour card for next season, however, with him moving from 102nd to 84th in the FedEx Cup standings, with the top 100 to secure their card at the end of the Fall Series, which has five events remaining.
First-time winner Fisk outdueled Garrick Higgo down the stretch, having started the day two shots adrift of third round leader Higgo, and took advantage of costly errors by the South African to claim a deserved win at the Country Club of Jackson.
The 28-year-old American carded a final round eight-under-par 64 to finish with a 24-under-par aggregate 264, two shots clear of Higgo, whose closing 68 left him on 22-under.
Fisk rattled in nine birdies and only one bogey in a brilliant round which saw him go toe-to-toe with playing partner Higgo on the back nine.
Higgo had stumbled with back-to-back bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes to give Fisk an opening, but bounced back to reel off birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes to retain a share of the lead.
Fisk then looked to have struck a decisive blow after rolling in a mammoth 41-foot putt on the 16th green to move a shot clear.
But Higgo responded by draining a pressure-packed 11-foot birdie putt to leave both players knotted on 22 under heading to the 17th.
Fisk swiftly engineered a birdie chance on the par-four 17th, nailing a 103-yard second shot to three feet before Higgo responded in kind by lasering his second to a similar distance.
Yet with a birdie begging, Higgo missed his putt and had to settle for par before Fisk rolled in his putt to take a one-shot lead.
Another pinpoint iron on the 18th left Fisk with a simple birdie putt and after Higgo two-putted, the 183rd-ranked rookie closed with his final birdie of the day to clinch a win that earned him $1.08 million but crucially hands him an exemption on the PGA Tour through 2027.
“I came out today with an attitude that nothing was going to stop me from what I wanted, no matter what happened, no matter what shots I hit,” Fisk said afterwards.
“I just felt like I’d be standing right here, right now before today started,” Fisk added, attributing his win to “self-belief and grit.”
“I know I’m good enough — I thought I could do it,” he said. “It’s a lifelong dream. Honestly, sometimes you doubt yourself, but like I said, I knew I could do it. And to have some job security is pretty nice. It’s been a long, hard year.”
Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard finished tied for third on 19-under alongside Whaley and Danny Walker, one shot clear of three players tied for sixth place, a group that included South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
