HP Byron Nelson Champ.: Final-round notebook
By Mark Williams, PGA TOUR Staff
IRVING, Texas -- Despite a bogey at the final hole, Rory Sabbatini earned a two-stroke victory over Brian Davis at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. Sabbatini shot 68-64-65-64--261 (tournament record) for his first victory since the 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, a stretch of 44 starts.
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• In 10 previous starts, Sabbatini's career-best finish at the HP Byron Nelson Championship was a tie for third in 2007, the only time he had finished in the top 10.
• Sabbatini becomes the 14th player to win both the HP Byron Nelson Championship and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial during his career. Others who have completed the "DFW Double" are Ben Crenshaw, Roberto De Vicenzo, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Bruce Devlin, Jack Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Watson, Bruce Lietzke, Nick Price, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Julius Boros.
• Dating back to 2000, Sabbatini is the sixth International winner of the HP Byron Nelson Championship. Dating back to 1995, he is the 11th champion to post all four rounds in the 60s. He also becomes the 12th player in his 30s to win on the PGA TOUR this year, the 15th overall by those 12 players.
• A total of 16 of 21 third-round leaders/co-leaders (76%) have gone on to win on the PGA TOUR this year. Last year the figure was 22 of 46 (48%).
• Sabbatini's 6-under 64 was the lowest final-round score by a winner at the HP Byron Nelson Championship since Peter Thomson's 63 in 1956.
• Sabbatini's statistics for the week: tied for 28th in Fairways Hit (34/56-60.7 %), tied for first in Putts per Round (25.8) and tied for 38th in Greens in Regulation (49/72-68.1 %).
• Davis equaled his career-best PGA TOUR result and has now posted runner-up finishes in each of the last three years. His previous runner-up results came at the 2007 St. Jude Championship and the 2008 Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.
• Davis now has three consecutive top-5 finishes after a pair of tied for fifth finishes at THE PLAYERS Championship and the Valero Texas Open. He has now posted eight consecutive rounds in the 60s.
• Davis has the longest active streak of 20 consecutive rounds of par or better on the PGA TOUR. During that stretch he has finished tied for 19th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, tied for 38th at the Quail Hollow Championship, tied for fifth at both THE PLAYERS Championship and Valero Texas Open, and second at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.
• Zach Johnson, who didn't play this week, remains at the top of the FedExCup standings. Sabbatini moved from No. 29 to No. 7 with his win. Davis jumped from No. 51 to No. 21 with his second-place finish.
• D.A. Points earned his career-best PGA TOUR finish with his third-place effort. Points' previous best were back-to-back ties for ninth earlier this year at The Honda Classic and the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular.
• Scott McCarron birdied three of the four par-3 holes in a nine-birdie, one-bogey, final-round 8-under 62, the low round of the tournament. McCarron's career low round is 61 (1999 Air Canada Championship/Round 4).
• McCarron's 8-under 62 tied the low final-round in tournament history with Steve Lowery (1995) and Ted Tryba (2001). He ranked No. 1 in both fairways hit (76.8%) and greens in regulation (81.9%) for the week but was T46 in putts per round (29.2).
• Dustin Johnson appears set to stay in the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking after beginning the week ranked No. 48. This means Brian Gay (12), Charley Hoffman (14) and Charles Howell III (15) will be exempt into the 2009 British Open as the leading three (inside the top-20) off the FedExCup standings.
• John Mallinger earned his best finish at the HP Byron Nelson Championship with a sixth place showing in his third start here. After missing the cut in 2007, Mallinger finished tied for 31st in 2008.
• After making seven bogeys in his first 23 holes this week, John Senden, who finished seventh, posted just one bogey (No. 10/Round 4) over his last 49 holes.
• 1987 HP Byron Nelson Championship winner and 2009 Presidents Cup U.S. team captain Fred Couples (69-66-67-67--269) earned his third top-10 finish (tied for eighth) this season. Couples will turn 50 and become eligible for the Champions Tour in early October, but continues to show he still belongs on the PGA TOUR. Now No. 61 (up from 76) on the FedExCup points list, Couples posted season-best tied for third efforts at the Northern Trust Open and the Shell Houston Open.
• Jeff Maggert, a Houston resident, earned his second top-10 of the season (FBR Open) despite a double bogey at the final hole. Maggert shot 71-66-65-67--269 to finish tied for eighth.
• Despite a double bogey at the final hole, where he three-putted from five feet, New Zealand's Danny Lee (69-67-69-66--271) posted his career-best finish (tied for 13th) on the PGA TOUR. Lee's previous best finish was a tie for 20th at the 2008 Wyndham Championship, as an amateur, where he also shot four rounds in the 60s.
• This was Lee's third start as a professional. He finished tied for 38th at the Quail Hollow Championship after missing the cut in his first start as a professional at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
• This was Lee's first event with Don Donatello as his caddie after Anthony Knight, Lee's former caddie, returned to New Zealand. Donatello previously caddied for Eric Axley and Kevin Na.
• Twelve players recorded all four rounds in the 60s this week. Consider this: Alex Cejka, who led after three rounds at THE PLAYERS Championship, shot 69-69-67-68--273 and finished tied for 23rd.
• It looks like donations from the public topped out at $4,000 in the "Beem Fore Behm" charity initiative. Rich Beem donated $100 per birdie he made this week and also encouraged fellow players, and the public, to donate to the fund established to benefit Rich Behm, who was paralyzed from the waist down when the Cowboys practice facility was destroyed in a storm earlier this month. The figure will almost certainly be higher when players' contributions are calculated next week. There will be a "Beem Fore Behm" donation tent near the main entrance at next week's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
• Charley Hoffman (tied for 23rd) didn't manage to earn his fourth top-10 finish of the year but did extend his consecutive cuts-made streak to 22. He is now 13 for 13 this season. His last missed cut was in July at the 2008 John Deere Classic. It's the second-longest current streak on TOUR, behind Tiger Woods (35).
• Mark Calcavecchia shot 6-under 64, an improvement of 11 shots from his third-round 75, to equal his low round this season (64/Round 3/Northern Trust Open) and finish tied for 52nd.
• Dallas native and resident Matt Weibring finished tied for 52nd after rounds of 67-69-71-70--277. His only previous start at the tournament was a missed cut in 2005 (73-71). Weibring's Dad, D.A., spearheaded the $10 million redesign of the TPC Four Seasons prior to the 2008 tournament. The elder Weibring played in the tournament 22 times, with runner-up finishes in 1993 and 1995.
• Bogey-free rounds: Davis (64), Marc Leishman (68), Greg Chalmers (66), Steve Flesch (66) and Jay Williamson (67).
• Chalmers drove the green at the 323-yard, par-4 11th hole and knocked in the remaining 21-foot putt for an eagle 2. It was the only eagle at the 11th hole all week.
• Jimmy Walker shot 6-under 29 on the front nine after birdies at Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9. He added another birdie at the 10th hole before bogeys at 11 and 12. Walker finished with 65 and tied for 23rd.
• The Scoring Average this week at the par-70 TPC Four Seasons Resort was 69.685. The daily averages were 70.858 on Thursday, 69.630 on Friday, 68.149 on Saturday and 68.878 on Sunday.
• Sabbatini earned his fifth PGA TOUR victory in his 261st career start at the age of 33 years, 1 month and 22 days. His previous wins came at the 2000 Air Canada Championship, 2003 FBR Capital Open, 2006 Northern Trust Open and 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational.
• He is now fully exempt through the end of the 2011 season. He also secured spots in the 2009 Memorial, 2009 AT&T National, 2009 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and 2009 PGA Championship as well as the 2010 SBS Championship, 2010 PLAYERS Championship and 2010 Masters Tournament.
• Sabbatini won with a tournament-record 19-under 261, topping Loren Roberts and Steve Pate's 262 totals in 1999. His victory came in his 11th start at the tournament, with one previous top-10 finish (tie for third in 2007).
• Sabbatini led the field with 26 birdies, four more than his nearest challenger in the category (Dustin Johnson, 22). Dating back to 1995, Sabbatini is the 11th (of 15) champion to post all four rounds in the 60s (68-64-65-64).
• Sabbatini is now four for eight when holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead, carrying third-round leads on to victory at the 2003 FBR Open, 2006 Northern Trust Open, 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational and the 2009 HP Byron Nelson Championship.
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