Shell Houston Open: Final-round notebook

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HUMBLE, Texas -- Paul Casey won the 2009 Shell Houston Open on the first playoff hole with a bogey over J.B. Holmes for his first career PGA TOUR victory.

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Fred Couples recorded his sixth top-10 finish in Houston.

Inside the Numbers

Final Leaderboard

Player Score 1. *Paul Casey 277 -11 2. J.B. Holmes 277 -11 T3. Fred Couples 279 -9 T3. Henrik Stenson 279 -9 T3. Nick O'Hern 279 -9 T6. John Mallinger 280 -8 T6. Jason Bohn 280 -8 T6. Hunter Mahan 280 -8 T6. Tommy Armour III 280 -8 T6. Geoff Ogilvy 280 -8

Note: * = won on first hole of sudden death.

• The third round began at 3:10 p.m. Saturday off the first and 10th tees. Play was suspended due to darkness at 7:34 p.m. Saturday with 73 players still on the course. The third-round resumed at 7:34 a.m. Sunday and was completed at 10:30 a.m. Pairings remained the same and tee times for the final round were 9:30-11:40 a.m. Sunday.

• The six-way tie for the 54-hole lead was the most since the TOUR started keeping this statistic dating back to 1970. Of those players tied for the lead through 54 holes, only eventual winner Paul Casey shot par or better in the final round. Casey closed with a 72, while Fred Couples had a 74 to tie for third, Geoff Ogilvy had a 75 to tie for sixth, Ryan Moore had a 76 to tie for 11th, Bo Van Pelt had a 78 to tie for 19th, and Colt Knost had an 81 to tie for 42nd.

• The Tournament Course at Redstone played to a scoring average of 72.202 for the week. The scoring average in Round 1 was 71.965, in Round 2 was 71.907, in Round 3 was 70.595 and in Round 4 was 74.795.

• His win moves Casey into the top 10 at sixth in FedExCup standings with just three events played on the PGA TOUR in 2009. Ogilvy's tie for sixth is his third top-10 finish of the season. Ogilvy earned 86 points FedExCup points, giving him 1290 on the season and extending his lead in the FedExCup standings by 137 points over Phil Mickelson.

• Couples, who was one of those tied for the third-round lead, recorded his sixth top-10 finish at the Shell Houston Open with a tie for third after finishing last year tied for fourth and his 12th top-25 finish at this event. Couples made his 16th consecutive cut at the Shell Houston Open dating back to 1983. The tie for third matches his tie for third earlier this year at the Northern Trust Open.

• Casey's victory at the Shell Houston Open comes during his first trip to this event. Casey is the first player since Mike Heinen in 1994 to win this tournament in his first appearance. He is the first player from England and the first European player to win the Shell Houston Open in the tournament's 63-year history.

• Casey has a 2-1 playoff record on the European Tour. J.B. Holmes was the only player to play all four rounds under par for the week.

• Sunday marked the 20th playoff in Shell Houston Open history. Only the U.S. Open has been decided by a playoff more times (23). The playoff was the first on the PGA TOUR. The last playoff at the Shell Houston Open was Vijay Singh's victory in 2005 over John Daly with a par on the first hole of sudden death.

• Holmes' playoff record drops to 1-1. In his other playoff appearance, Holmes defeated Mickelson at the 2008 FBR Open.

• Holmes made a 14-foot par putt on the 18th hole to post a score of 11 under par but then had to wait for two hours and 40 minutes before the playoff began.

• The par-4 18th hole played to a 5.103 average during the fourth round, surrendering just 1 birdie and 20 pars on Sunday. John Merrick was the only player to birdie the hole after hitting his approach shot to 10 feet, 2 inches.

• Padraig Harrington, who heads to the Masters having won the last two major championships in 2008 at the British Open and PGA Championship, heads to Augusta National without recording a top-10 finish thus far in the 2009 season on the PGA TOUR. Harrington entered the third round tied for ninth and two strokes off the lead, but a final-round 77 left him tied for 26th for the week.

• John Senden went 292 holes without three putting. Senden's streak ended on the par-3 16th hole where the Australian four-putted from 63 feet.

• Mickelson's back-to-back victories at the 2006 BellSouth Classic and the Masters is the last time a winner of the Masters has also won the week beforehand. Gary Player, in 1978, was the last player to win the Shell Houston Open and the Masters in the same year.

• The 488-yard, part-4 18th hole at Redstone is one of 30 holes in the Kodak Challenge, celebrating beautiful holes and memorable moments on the PGA TOUR. In 2009, 30 PGA TOUR tournaments will feature a designated Kodak Challenge hole. Players must play at least 18 of the 30 Kodak Challenge holes throughout the season to compete for $1 million and the Kodak Challenge trophy. A player's lowest score relative to par on his best 18 Kodak challenge holes will be counted. The player with the lowest cumulative score relative to par wins.

• Four players joined a nine-way tie for the lead in the season-long Kodak Challenge with birdies on the 18th hole: Holmes, Kevin Sutherland, Michael Letzig and Chad Campbell.

• Mark Calcavecchia withdrew during Round 4 due to a bad back.