Willie Mack III holes long birdie putt in playoff to grab APGA win at Queen’s Harbour

Sam Burns wasn’t the only one in the past week to win a tournament with a lengthy birdie putt on the second playoff hole. 

Willie Mack III canned a 40-footer — roughly eight feet longer than Burns’ at the Valspar Championship — Tuesday to win the APGA’s Queen’s Harbour Championship.

Mack bogeyed his final hole in regulation to fall into a playoff with Tommy Schaff, who had the day’s lowest round, shooting 3-under 69. On the first playoff hole, Mack missed the green but got up and down and Schaff missed a short putt that would have notched him the victory. Mack then capitalized on his second chance and emerged victorious with his mother in the gallery. 

“Last time she came, I won, so maybe she needs to be out here more often,” Mack said to PGATour.com following his win. 

Mack, 33, is the reigning APGA Player of the Year. In 2021, the Flint native received the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption from the Tiger Woods Foundation at the Genesis Invitational. Later that year, he made his first PGA Tour cut in his home state at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and then did it again the next week at the John Deere Classic. 

Mack’s last Tour start came in November at Mayakoba, where he missed the cut. Later in the month, he narrowly missed notching Korn Ferry Tour status at Q-School. 

However, he’ll have another shot at an APGA win when the tour heads to PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida on April 2.