Crowne Plaza Invitational, Round 4
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| Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial | ||
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
PLAYOFF UPDATE, STRICKER WINS (6:45 p.m.): This time it was Steve Stricker with a short putt to win, just 3 feet, 10 inches to be exact. Unlike Tim Clark in regulation, Stricker sank the putt and won the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, making birdie on the par-4 17th, the second extra hole of a three-man sudden-death playoff.
Now Stricker can shave. He'd been growing his beard out until he won and fortunately he didn't have to wait long. You have to hand it to Stricker. He's had one heartbreak after another throughout his career, including two earlier this year. Yet he kept picking himself up, dusting himself off. Afterward, he fought back tears while being interviewed by CBS' Peter Kostis. It was easy to understand why. In the end, however, great ballstriking and terrific putting won him this tournament as he birdied the 17th hole for a fourth time in five tries. Wow. -- Brian Wacker
(6:40 p.m.): Steve Stricker may have just won the golf tournament with what looks like will be his fourth birdie in five tries at the short par-4 17th. Stricker's approach from the middle of the fairway nearly rolled in the hole before stopping 3 feet away. Just when it looked like that couldn't be topped, Tim Clark's approach landed closer, hitting the stick and bouncing backwards. If it doesn't hit the pin, it spins back to a few feet. Instead, he's left with 22 feet. Steve Marino, who had to hit a low shot after finding the trees left, came up short of the green, meaning he'll likely need to chip in. -- Brian Wacker
(6:35 p.m.): Steve Marino went first on No. 17 and promptly yanked his tee shot on the 376-yard par-4 17th to the left and into the rough. Steve Stricker and Tim Clark found the fairway, so you have to like their chances better than Marino's at this point. -- Brian Wacker
(6:25): After burning the edge on a chip shot from just off the 18th green in regulation -- a shot that would have won him the tournament as it turned out -- Steve Marino slid his birdie putt just by the same hole, dropping to his knees after teasing it once again. Steve Stricker did the same and, believe it or not, so did Tim Clark, who had just 7 feet to win, but left his putt on the edge. All three men will now head to the 17th hole. -- Brian Wacker
(6:22 p.m.): Steve Marino was last to hit after bombing his tee shot past Steve Stricker and Tim Clark, but he'll be first to putt when he reaches the green after coming up well short on his approach, leaving himself nearly 31 feet. Clark, meanwhile, is the closest with just 7 feet left. Stricker is nearly 17 feet away. -- Brian Wacker
(6:15 p.m.): Three tee shots off the 18th hole, three balls in the fairway. That was the result f the shots hit by Steve Stricker, Steve Marino and Tim Clark, with Marino going the deepest. He's got just 138 yards in after a drive of 304 yards. -- Brian Wacker
PLAYOFF BOUND (6:05 p.m.): Just 12 feet separated Tim Clark from his first career victory on the PGA TOUR. It'll have to wait, however. Clark missed a par putt on the 72nd hole moments ago and as a result is now headed to a three-way playoff with Steve Stricker and Steve Marino.
Talk about a unique trio. Two of them -- Clark and Marino -- have never won on TOUR, but come close. Stricke, meanwhile, has seen his share of heartbreaking near-misses. Now that we're in sudden death, however, someone's going to have to finally get it done.
This marks the 10th time that this tournament has gone to a playoff and for those of you keeping score at home, the Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour events have also gone to extra holes. -- Brian Wacker
DOWN THE STRETCH (5:30 p.m.): The final round is winding down and Tim Clark is hanging on for dear life, clinging to a one-shot lead with two holes to go. Steve Marino is one back, while Steve Stricker is two back and running out of real estate -- literally and figuratively after hitting his approach at No. 17 long. Of course, as soon as we wrote those words, Stricker chipped in for birdie and he's now just one back. Stay tuned. -- Brian Wacker
LOW ROUND OF THE DAY (5 p.m.): There's apparently something about Brian Gay and shooting 64 in the final round. For the second time this season, Gay carded just that, shooting the day's lowest round here at Colonial. He did it in impressive fashion, too, with birdies on each of his final three holes en route to a back-nine 30. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Gay's scorecard from today:
CLOSING IN ON A RECORD? (4:25 p.m.): The scoring hasn't been quite as low today -- at least by those at the top of the leaderboard -- as it has the rest of the week, but with Tim Clark clinging to a one-stroke lead at 18 under, he's not only closing in on his first career victory on the PGA TOUR, but possibly a record, too.
The current four-day record for the Crowne Plaza Invitational is 19-under 261, shot twice by Kenny Perry in 2003 then again in 2005. At the rate Clark is playing, he should eclipse that mark -- he hasn't made a bogey on the back nine all week and is a collective 11 under. -- Brian Wacker
CLARK'S WOE'S (4 p.m.): Tim Clark has the lead after making a birdie at No. 10, but he's having arguably his worst ballstriking day of the week, having hit just 55 percent of his greens in regulation so far after hitting 83 percent or better in each of the first three rounds.
Still, Clark is in good position to capture his first career win on the PGA TOUR, something he's been looking for in 184 career starts. -- Brian Wacker
STRICKER SLIDING AGAIN? (3:35 p.m.): There is no lead to blow this time, though Steve Stricker did briefly have a hold on it today. Still, you can't help but wonder if all those previous missed opportunities aren't creeping into his head and into his game after back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 7 and 8 just now to fall back to 15 under.
Stricker left a shot in the fairway bunker at the par-4 fifth hole, then left his tee shot on the par-3 eighth some 60 feet short before three-putting. Prior to today, Stricker made just two bogeys all week.
There's plenty of time for Stricker, who led here after 36 holes with a tournament record total with back-to-back rounds of 63, to recover, but the body language right now is looking a lot like it did in Palm Springs earlier this year when he shot a final-round 77. -- Brian Wacker
CHANGE AT THE TOP (3:15 p.m.): So much for that three-shot lead for Tim Clark. Since opening with a bogey, Clark has two bogeys in his last four holes to fall to 1 over on his round and out of the lead.
One of the players to take advantage of that was Steve Stricker, who is 2 under through his first six holes and now in the lead by a stroke with Clark and Steve Marino right behind him.
And don't count out Paul Casey yet, either. He's one of four players within three of the lead right now and the way things are shaping up, there's going to be a lot of movement on the leaderboard today. -- Brian Wacker
| A sip of Maginnes | |
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OFF TO A GOOD START (2:35 p.m.): Just as he has all week, Tim Clark birdied the first hole at Colonial after lagging it to a few feet from 38 feet away. Steve Marino also birdied No. 1 to keep pace, but has since given one back with a bogey at No. 2. Given how Clark has played all week it really is hard to imagine him squandering the three-shot lead he now has. -- Brian Wacker
BEING IN THE LEAD HERE IS GOOD (2:10 p.m.): If history is any indication, Tim Clark has to feel pretty good about his chances as he tees off in today's final round. In the 62-year history of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, the 54-hole leader/co-leader has gone on to win 34 times, including each of the last seven times. A win here would also go a long way toward erasing that final-round 76 in last year's St. Jude Classic. -- Brian Wacker
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GOING LOW IN THE FINAL ROUND (1:50 p.m.): We're closing in on the final group of the day, Tim Clark and Steve Marino, getting ready to tee off at Colonial and after Marino's 62 yesterday it seems logical to bring up the lowest final round ever shot to win a tournament.
Well, that would be a 59, which is what David Duval shot to win the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. As for the lowest final round ever to win a 72-hole event (at least going back as far as 1980), you have to go back to the 1995 B.C. Open, where Hal Sutton shot a 61. 61 Hal Sutton 95 B.C. open since 1980. -- Brian Wacker
FEDEXCUP UPDATE (1:35 p.m.): There are seven players in this week's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial ranked among the top-10 in the current FedExCup standings. Only Geoff Ogilvy, Sean O'Hair, Kenny Perry and Rory Sabbatini could pass current leader Zach Johnson, however, though it doesn't appear that any of them, except maybe Stricker, are going to. Tim Clark, meanwhile, would move as high as eighth with a win today. See the chart below for more. -- Brian Wacker
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KEY TO SUCCESS (1:15 p.m.): We should have a pretty good idea what kind of day it will be for Tim Clark rather quickly. That's because the first two holes at Colonial are playing as the easiest on the course, with the par-5 first the easiest.
Of course, that's just when things will change for players with the start of the horrible horseshoe, one of the toughest three-hole stretches in golf. The 483-yard par-4 third is currently the eighth-toughest hole on the course, while Nos. 4 and 5 rank second and first, respectively.
So far, Clark has played the first five holes in a combined 4 under with five birdies and just one bogey all week. -- Brian Wacker
FURYK ON FIRE (1 p.m.): Jim Furyk likely isn't going to win, but he's doing his best to add to his list of top-10s here with birdies on five of his first seven holes to get to 11 under and inside the top 10 right now.
Not surprisingly, Furyk's doing it with superb ballstriking today -- all of his birdies have come from inside 14 feet. The way Furyk is playing is also a pretty good indication that it's going to be another ideal day for scoring at Co'low'nial. Click here to follow Furyk's round live with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
EARLY MOVERS (12:35 p.m.): After starting the day 11 shots off the lead, Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk -- both of whom have stellar records at Colonial -- have gotten off to fast starts today to move up the leaderboard and into the top 15, for the moment anyway.
Perry, who has won this tournament twice, is 3 under through his first six holes, while Furyk, who has five top-10s in 13 starts here, is 3 under through his first five holes.
Charley Hoffman and Stewart Cink are also making similar moves, albeit from further back, with both men at 3 under on their respective rounds.
With all the low numbers continuing to be put up here at Colonial, you can't help but wonder what it will take to win today. Only one player in the top 10 -- Sean O'Hair -- has a round of 70 or above on his card this week. Is there another 62 out there the way there was for Steve Marino yesterday? Probably not, but something between that and a 66 certainly sounds reasonable. -- Brian Wacker
CAN CLARK CLOSE THE DEAL? (12:15 p.m.): When Tim Clark tees off in a couple of hours from now, he'll be trying (again) to win for the first time in his career on the PGA TOUR. Over that span of 184 starts, Clark has entered the final round in the lead just three times, never finishing better than 10th.
Clark also has six career runner-up finishes, though, and as just mentioned, none have come when he's held the lead going into Sunday. In fact, many have been courtesy of some pretty spectacular final rounds. One of those rounds came here last year as Clark tied for the lead with a 66 only to see Phil Mickelson birdie the 72nd hole to win by one.
What will happen this time? Well, if Clark keeps performing like he has all week (see chart below), we might have to find a new best-player-never-to-win-on-TOUR. -- Brian Wacker
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