Life as a professional golfer can be brutal, isolating and level you with crippling self-doubt. For every star, countless guys are scraping and clawing to get a foothold in the professional game, keep their heads above water and build a career for themselves.
Guys like Steven Fisk.
The 28-year-old PGA Tour rookie had a trying first year on the top circuit. The Georgia Southern product made 13 cuts in 22 starts but only had one top-10 finish, which came at the Puerto Rico Open. The summer was especially tough for Fisk, who carded just one top-30 finish in his final eight starts of the PGA Tour regular season, leaving him well outside the top-100 bubble entering the FedEx Cup Fall Series.
Fisk finished T30 at the Procore Championship, which Scottie Scheffler won as a Ryder Cup tune-up. That left him at 135 on the FedEx Cup points list entering this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi. Fisk opened with a two-under 70 but then fired back-to-back seven-under 65s to get within two shots of 54-hole leader Garrick Higgo entering Sunday’s final round.
After a year spent getting a crash course in the realities of professional golf, Fisk knew he had to make the most of Sunday. With the fall season dwindling down and a trip back to the Korn Ferry Tour staring him in the face, the final round in Jackson might be his last, best chance to keep his head above water on the PGA Tour.
Steven Fisk’s final round highlights at Sanderson Farms Championship
Fisk turned in three-under 33 and then birdied the 11th to grab the outright lead. Higgo, a two-time PGA Tour winner, responded with birdies at 13, 14 and 15 to tie Fisk at 21 under. With three holes left and a career-changing win hanging in the balance, Fisk closed in style. He rolled in a 41-foot birdie putt at No. 16 to match Higgo and stay tied at 22 under.
On 17, Higgo hit his approach to six feet, but Fisk stuck it inside him. Higgo’s birdie attempt from three feet slid past the hole, opening the door for Fisk, who tapped in his two-foot birdie putt to take a one-shot lead to the 72nd hole. Fisk striped his tee shot and then stuffed his approach shot to three feet, 10 inches. Higgo’s final birdie attempt didn’t scare the hole, ceding the stage for Fisk to walk through a door that can change everything.
“[I had] an attitude that nothing was going to stop me,” Fisk told Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis after the win. “No matter what happened, no matter what shots I hit. I just felt like I’d be standing right here, right now before today started.”
When asked why he still felt that way after a trying rookie season, Fisk offered a glimpse into the uphill climb he has been attempting and the relief that irrational confidence and four good October rounds in Jackson, Mississippi, can deliver.
“Self-belief. Grit. I know I’m good enough. I thought I could do it,” Fisk said.
“It’s a lifelong dream, honestly. Sometimes you doubt yourself. I don’t know. I knew I could do it. And to have some job security is pretty nice. It has been a long, hard year.”
After rolling in the finishing birdie, Fisk embraced his caddie Jay Green. He then turned to find Edith, who was racing toward the green. She leaped into his arms, and his eyes started to tear up. She started crying, and then so did he. They exited the putting surface toward Green. Edith and Green hugged. The three held each other in a moment of relief and celebration, smiles beaming from all of their faces. The road here had been trying. Team Fisk has traversed a trying year together and endured personal tragedy along the way.
Fisk lost his father, Christopher, earlier this year after a battle with cancer. Green, who started caddying for Fisk last year, caddied for the late Grayson Murray when he won the Sony Open in 2024. After the win, the two will travel to Raleigh for the Grayson Murray Classic.
Fisk is certain that he and Green weren’t alone on their Sunday charge in Jackson.
“I think he nudged a couple of putts in for me for sure, maybe him or Grayson,” Fisk said of his father on Sunday. “I had a couple of helpers out there. I miss him very much, and I know he’d be really proud of how I played all week and especially today to keep my composure and just kind of go about my business the best way I know how.”
This day brought Fisk a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour as well as a spot in the PGA Championship and the Players Championship. Where he started the week worrying about his FedEx Cup points rank and what the future might hold if the putts didn’t start dropping over the next month-and-a-half, Fisk now can exhale. He no longer has to worry about whether or not he can make it on the PGA Tour. With a finishing birdie flurry at the Country Club of Jackson, Steven Fisk did what he and his father always believed he was capable of.
“I’d like to think that he knew this day would happen,” Fisk said.
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