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Miami - Colombia's Camilo Villegas, seeking his first PGA title in more than two years, will be among four golfers shooting for the RSM Classic crown Monday when their darkness-halted playoff resumes.
Villegas will be joined by Canada's Mackenzie Hughes, Sweden's
Henrik Norlander and American Blayne Barber - all seeking their first PGA title
- on the tee at the par-3 17th hole on Monday morning on the Seaside course at
Sea Island, Georgia.
Five players finished level for the lead on 17-under par 265
after 72 holes but American Billy Horschel fell out of the playoff by botching
a tap-in par putt on the first extra hole.
"I'm disappointed I'm not still in this playoff but I have a lot to hold my head up about," Horschel said.
Norlander fired a final-round 65 while Barber shot 66,
Villegas and Horschel each fired 68s and Hughes, seeking a wire-to-wire win,
closed with a 69.
Sharing a distant sixth were Taiwan's Pan Cheng-Tsung and
Americans Jim Furyk, Jamie Lovemark and Ollie Schniederjans on 268.
The only member of the playoff lineup with prior PGA playoff experience was Villegas, who lost to American Mark Wilson at the 2007 Honda Classic but defeated Spain's Sergio Garcia at the 2008 Tour Championship.
Villegas has slid to 424th in the world rankings and is playing on a lesser status reserved for past tour event winners, hungry for the tour exemption through September of 2019 that will go to the playoff winner.
The five returned to the par-4 18th for the first playoff hole and all gave themselves birdie chances.
Norlander was just short of the cup on a 30-footer while
Barber went a foot past from 25 feet and Horschel did the same from 20 feet.
Hughes and Villegas each failed on 15-foot birdie putts. Only Horschel missed
his tap-in for par.
"I didn't take my time over that short putt. Simple as
that," Horchel tweeted.
The last four returned to the 18th tee for the second
playoff hole as the light began to fade and they all reached the green again
for birdie attempts in the twilight gloom.
"I'm glad I'm still in there trying," Barber said. "It was pitch black. It was hard to see how it was breaking."
Norlander left his 30-foot birdie try two feet short while
Barber slid his 25-footer one foot beyond the cup and Villegas was two feet shy
of the hole from 27 feet.
"It was so dark, that last putt I hit, was to the
middle of the hole - hit it firm, I had no clue where it was going,"
Villegas said.
That left 287th-ranked Hughes, 25, an eight-foot birdie putt to win in only his ninth PGA start, but the ball rolled just off the left edge and he made a two-footer coming back to join the rest in sleeping on the drama.
"I didn't have my best stuff but I showed what I can
do," Hughes said. "I made the playoff without my best game and I
still have a chance to win. That's all I can ask for."
Villegas, 34, seeks his fifth PGA title after the 2008 BMW
Championship and Tour Championship, 2010 Honda Classic and 2014 Wyndham
Championship.
Barber, 26, shared third in last year's Honda Classic for the world number 268's best showing in 60 prior PGA starts.
Norlander, 29, is ranked 409th in the world and playing on a sponsor's exemption. His best PGA finish was a share of 15th in 2013 at New Orleans.
Leading scores after Sunday's final round of the US PGA Tour's RSM Classic (USA unless noted, playoff will resume on Monday morning after being halted after two holes by darkness, Horschel out after bogey on first playoff hole):
265 - Henrik Norlander (SWE) 67-67-66-65, Blayne Barber 63-68-68-66, Billy Horschel 66-66-65-68, Camilo Villegas (COL) 66-67-64-68, Mackenzie Hughes (CAN) 61-67-68-69
268 - Jamie Lovemark 67-66-70-65, Jim Furyk 64-69-68-67, Ollie Schniederjans 66-68-66-68, Pan Cheng-Tsung (TPE) 66-64-67-71
269 - Russell Henley 67-65-70-67, Stewart Cink 62-71-67-69, Patrick Rodgers 69-65-65-70
270 - Chris Stroud 69-67-68-66, Anirban Lahiri (IND) 68-67-70-65, Michael Thompson 66-70-66-68, Chad Campbell 66-65-70-69, Luke List 69-64-68-69, Bill Haas 69-66-66-69, Jim Herman 69-66-66-69, Charles Howell III 67-65-67-71
271 - Tim Wilkinson (NZL) 67-67-69-68, Jonathan Byrd 62-70-70-69, Kyle Stanley 65-67-70-69, Kelly Kraft 67-66-73-65, Brett Stegmaier 68-67-68-68, Cameron Percy (AUS) 69-66-68-68
