JACKSON, Miss. – Mark Hubbard rattled off five straight birdies on the back nine to finish 4 feet from the tee and shoot a 7-under 65 to take a one-shot lead Saturday at the Sanderson Farms Championship for his first PGA Tour victory.
Hubbard has gone 163 games without a win in six years, and that’s as good a chance as any. It’s the first time he’s held a 54-hole lead on tour.
Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes showed how much can change in a short amount of time at Jackson Country Club.
Hughes sent his approach long on the 18th and hit a close-cropped green onto the green and ran away from it. Going right, Hubbard seemed to have a three-shot lead, and Hughes holed out from 30 feet for birdie and a 68.
Hubbard was 15-under 201 and one shot ahead of Hughes.
Scott Stallings is in the mix as he reaches 14 under on the par-4 15th, which is 10 feet from the bush. But after going 51 straight holes without a bogey, Stallings missed the left fairways on the 16th and 18th holes and made bogeys on both.
He shot 68 and was three shots back of Honda Classic winner Sepp Straka (69) and Garrick Higgo (68) before coming back from a double bogey on the 12th hole from 119 yards.
Belgian Thomas Detri, who started the third round in a tie with Hughes, had just one birdie on a good scoring day, shooting 74 and falling seven shots behind.
Former PGA champion Keegan Bradley tied the score with a 64 and was four over at the end of the day. On this course, it’s important to take advantage of the stretch on the back nine with a par 5 par and a reachable par 4.
That’s what Hubbard, 33, has done as well as anyone.
“I’ve done a good job of taking advantage of the pits that have been collected,” he said.
His five-birdie run started with a bang to hit the par-5 11th. He made a pair of 8-foot birdies on the next two holes, two-over 50 feet on the par-5 14th and chipped well behind the green on the short 16th for a 4-foot birdie.
His day ended beautifully with a metal center that covered the flag and was placed just to the right.
“Hubbard said I was in the right place, so I didn’t feel as excited as I was sure the scorecard would look like.”
Hughes also did well and, like Stallings, nearly pulled a birdie out of the hole on the 15th. His tee shot left no room between the trees to reach the green and fell back. But the finish was fitting.
“It was huge,” Hughes said. “When I put myself back there, I thought it was going to be a tough two-putt. It was a big bonus to see the ball go in. It’s going to give me one back tomorrow, and I wanted to get as close to the mark as I could.”
Hubbard’s career best came in 2020 when he finished 2nd in Houston. There wasn’t much to look forward to this week, mainly due to minor injuries. Last week, his daughter accidentally knocked a knife off the table and a knife at his feet.
“So this whole week I had a hole in my foot and I couldn’t practice last week, so I’m just here to say I’m trying to get ready for Vegas,” he said. I think this probably has a lot to do with low expectations.
“That being said, the last six, seven months I’ve felt amazing about my game, so I’m just going to go with it and try to keep those expectations low and hit good golf shots.”
