Five years, seven months and three days, or in other words, two thousand forty-four days and nights, have passed since the first and only time Keitch Mitchell (-20) won a PGA Tour tournament. The golfer from Chattanooga, Tennessee, won the prestigious Honda Classic by one stroke ahead of Broosk Koepka and Rickie Fowler. Those were different times for this business graduate from the University of Georgia, a classmate of players like Harris English, Stephan Jaeger, and Luke List, who had barely been on the circuit for a couple of years and had already come close to his debut win a few months earlier in Puntacana.
Since then, 22 top-ten finishes on the tour for the 32-year-old American and a laborious effort to stay relevant and earn money, although not too often in a position to win again. Something that, finally, he will be able to genuinely attempt tomorrow, at the Sanderson Farms Championship, his 185th tournament on the circuit, after signing the best card of Saturday on the ‘moving day’. A fantastic 65, with an epic birdie putt from over 12 metres, capped off with another putt from just over two metres on the final hole. It was the seventh of a bogey-free card and the fifth of the second half of his round, in which he completed a great comeback to take the solo lead and match the lowest 54-hole score in the tournament’s history.
Cashmere Keith from downtown!@K_M_Mitchell drains a 37-foot birdie for the solo lead @Sanderson_Champ. pic.twitter.com/9rq4UlGShK
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 5, 2024
Mitchell, who had missed the cut in his four previous visits to the Country Club of Jackson tournament, has not needed to hit even half of the fairways in the first three days of competition to demonstrate the good form he is in (coming off a tied 12th finish at the Wyndham Championship that closed the regular season and a solo 12th at the Procore Championship that opened the autumn calendar) and his candidacy for a victory that, besides catapulting him into the group of players who have won at least twice on the PGA Tour, would allow him to reach 52nd place in the FedEx Fall and secure two more years of card and entry into major tournaments in 2025.
For that, however, he will have to battle it out tomorrow with Beau Hossler (-19), who is seeking his first win in his 200th tournament and made a tough fight for the lead (he almost matched Keith‘s score with his last birdie putt on the 18th grazing the hole’s edge), or with players like Taiwanese Kevin Yu (-18), who was masterful on the greens this Saturday with just 24 putts to complete the 18 holes. Further back, though not ruled out by any means on a course that allows very few, are names like Bud Cauley (-16), Jacob Bridgeman (-16), or Lucas Glover (-16), among others. Fowler (-13), far from the fight, is at least up there in his comeback tournament and leaves a good impression.
Trouble in the final pairing.
Once the solo leader, Beau Hossler now trails by one after a double bogey on 12. https://t.co/VARpr4prpD pic.twitter.com/DHq2AhbMDc
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 5, 2024
By the way, Englishman David Skinns (-10), who started the tournament with a stunning 60 on Thursday for 12 under par, continues his free fall in the standings. The 71 on Friday made him lose the lead and several positions. Today he signed for 75 strokes, three over par and 15 more than he needed in the first round to complete the same course, already placing him below 40th place. It is demonstrated once again that in elite golf, even when the circuit’s big names are not present, it’s never about how you start but how you finish…
