Get to Know The PGA Tour's Newest Champion

Kevin Yu of Taiwan defeated American Beau Hossler in a play-off to win his first PGA Tour title in the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Yu birdied the first extra hole at The Country Club of Jackson after the pair had finished tied on 23 under par.

"It's literally a dream come true. I've been dreaming of this since I was five years old," said Yu. "I set a goal today, I thought if I could shoot five or six under I'd have a good chance. I was just focused on that and do the best I could on every shot and I did a pretty good job today."

Keith Mitchell, who held a two-shot lead with five holes to play, had a birdie putt from 35 feet on the 18th to win in regulation, but charged it four feet past the hole and missed the return.

Yu had birdied the 15th and 18th in a closing 67 to set the clubhouse target, with Hossler matching it by getting up and down from 130 yards to save par after his pulled drive finished directly behind a tree. The players returned to the 18th for sudden death and although Hossler hit a superb bunker shot to almost certainly save par, Yu calmly holed from six feet for the winning birdie.

Mitchell's closing bogey dropped him into a tie for third with fellow American Lucas Glover, the former US Open champion covered his last six holes in five under par to shoot a closing 66.

Ireland's Seamus Power carded a final round of 68 to finish in a tie for 11th while England's David Skinns, who led after an opening 60, shot 69 on Sunday to finish tied 37th.

Who is Kevin Yu?

Kevin Yu was born in Taiwan on August 11, 1998.

He has represented his country at multiple international competitions, winning the gold medal at the 2013 Asian Youth Games and individual bronze and team gold at the 2014 Asian Games. He competed at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics and at the 2017 Summer Universiade, winning bronze medals in the individual and team events. At the 2018 Asian Games he finished fourth in the individual and fifth in the team competition.

He also competed at the Nomura Cup in 2013 and 2015, the Eisenhower Trophy (2014 and 2016), Bonallack Trophy (2016) and Arnold Palmer Cup in 2019.

Yu played golf for Arizona State University, winning three individual collegiate titles and finishing third in the individual competition at the 2019 NCAA Division One Men’s Championship before winning the Australian Masters of the Amateurs.

He qualified for the 2020 US Open. 

Yu turned professional in 2021 and earned status on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2021 through the PGA Tour University programme and began with two top-10 finishes in his first four starts.

He began this week in 96th place in the FedEx standings and 135th in the world rankings. He is now 60th in the FedEx standings and 71st in the world rankings. Although he has missed 10 cuts this season, there have also been five top 10s.

This was his 56th start on the PGA Tour and he has made 27 cuts, with two third places, three top fives and eight top 10s.

He averages 309.1 yards from the tee, hits 58% of fairways and finds 71.04% of greens in regulations. He gets up and down from the sand 42.86% of the time, averages 29.79 putts per round, averages 4.11 birdies per round and has a scoring average of 69.66.