Valero Texas Open, Round 4
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
LIVE PLAYOFF UPDATE, JOHNSON WINS (6:38 p.m.): Needing to make his putt to put some pressure on Zach Johnson, James Driscoll missed his putt on the high side. This week. Driscoll made a dozen putts over 10 feet, but this won't be one of them. Johnson, meanwhile, rolled his into the heart of the cup for a birdie and the win. That gives Johnson his second victory here in just seven months with this tournament having been played last year as part of the Fall Series and his second win of 2009. It also completed a nice turnaround for Johnson, who at one point today was 1 over on his round. He recovered with a birdie on 13 to get to even on the day and then made the biggest birdie of his season on 18 in the playoff. The victory also vaults Johnson to the top of the FedExCup standings with a little less than than half the season to go. -- Brian Wacker
(6:32 p.m.): Both Zach Johnson and James Driscoll had the same yardages to the green on 18 that they had in regulation. Johnson hit his approach even closer this time around, landing it 10 feet, 2 inches away. Driscoll, meanwhile, hung his shot out into the wind a bit and came up 26 feet, 7 inches away and will give Johnson a bit of a read since his putt will be on a similar line.
Driscoll's only other playoff came at the 2005 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he lost to Tim Petrovic and it looks like he might get the same result today. -- Brian Wacker
(6:25 p.m.): Playing the 18th hole -- a holes James Driscoll birdied today just to eventually get to extra holes -- to start the playoff, Driscoll hit his tee shot right down the middle. Not bad considering he had to wait 2 hours to find out he'd be in a playoff. Zach Johnson, meanwhile, also found the fairway. Both players looked completely comfortable. Johnson will play next, having landed about 10 yards behind Driscoll. -- Brian Wacker
PLAYOFF BOUND (6:15 p.m.): Just 15 feet, 10 inches separated Zach Johnson from his second straight Valero Texas Open win, but Johnson left his birdie attempt just short on the 18th, meaning that he and James Driscoll will now go to a sudden-death playoff tied at 15 under. -- Brian Wacker
DOWN THE STRETCH (6 p.m.): It looks like we might be headed to a playoff at the Valero Texas Open, where three players -- James Driscoll, Zach Johnson and Paul Goydos -- are tied atop the leaderboard at 15 under.
Johnson and Goydos are playing the 18th with both men having hit the fairway, but there have only been eight birdies on the finishing hole all day, so unless one of those two makes a 3, we're headed to extra holes. -- Brian Wacker
HAAS IN WITH A 65 (5:35 p.m.): It looks like Bill Haas' first career PGA TOUR win will have to wait. Haas birdied five of six holes down the stretch to grab a share of the lead, but a costly bogey on the par-3 17th dropped him one back and out of contention.
After hitting his tee shot just left of the green on No. 17, Haas chipped it to 6 feet, 3 inches, but missed the putt left before tapping in for bogey.
With James Driscoll already in at 15 under, the best Haas can hope for is a second-place finish, which still would be the best result of his young career. Haas' 65 today also matches his low round of the year. He shot 65 in the third round of the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he eventually finished T9, and in the second round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun, where he finished T38. -- Brian Wacker
PLAYOFFS, PLAYOFFS? (5:18 p.m.): With a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard and three players within a shot of the lead, the possibility of a playoff looms large at LaCantera.
So what's the largest playoff ever on the PGA TOUR? Well, there have been two six-man playoffs -- and one of those came in Texas.
The first time came at the 1994 GTE Byron Nelson Classic when Neal Lancaster outlasted Tom Byrum, Mark Carnevale, David Edwards, Yoshinori Mizumaki and David Ogrin. The other time was in 2001 at the Nissan Open which was won by Robert Allenby in a playoff with Toshi Izawa, Brandel Chamblee, Bob Tway, Jeff Sluman and Dennis Paulson. -- Helen Ross
HAAS GETTING HOT (4:52 p.m.): Maybe playing well at the Valero Texas Open runs in the Haas family. In 1982 and 1993, Jay Haas won this tournament -- albeit at a different course in Oak Hills CC. This week, son Bill Haas is trying to get his first career PGA TOUR win here and has put himself in good position with birdies on four of his last five holes to get to 14 under and within one of the lead.
Haas now has seven birdies on the day -- offset only slightly by two bogeys on the front nine -- and could be adding to that after driving the green on the par-4 16th, where only 24 feet separates him from an eagle. -- Brian Wacker
DRISCOLL IN WITH 62 (4:28 p.m.): James Driscoll has seen his share of ups and downs on the golf course since turning pro in 2001, but this week has been all up for the former three-time All-American from the University of Virginia. Driscoll just capped off an 8-under 62, matching the second-lowest score of the week and good enough to put him in the clubhouse lead at 15 under.
Driscoll really got rolling on the back here at LaCantera, where he played the final nine holes in 30, which included an eagle at the par-5 14th and 15-foot birdie make on the 18th. Now he'll have to sit and wait while the rest of the players behind him, including defending champion Zach Johnson, try to play catch-up. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Driscoll's scorecard from today:
JOHNSON STRUGGLING (4:15 p.m.): Zach Johnson is one of just two players in the top 25 currently over par in their final round today and you can point directly to his greens in regulation -- something that he has been incredibly good at the rest of the week.
Today, Johnson has hit just 6 of 10 greens in regulation, forcing him to scramble all day. He also isn't making anything with the putter when he does find the green with his longest made putt of the day just under 3 feet -- a far cry from yesterday, when he rolled in four putts from over 10 feet, including ones from 25 feet and 17 feet. -- Brian Wacker
LEONARD UNABLE TO GO LOW (4:00 p.m.): Justin Leonard is a combined 133-under par in 41 career rounds at LaCantera, but he wasn't able to add to that much on the front nine today, making the turn in 1 under with just one birdie and eight pars.
That's the fewest number of birdies by Leonard on the front nine here this week and as a result he makes the turn two shots back of the lead, which is now shared by James Driscoll, Zach Johnson and Paul Goydos at 12 under. -- Brian Wacker
LEADERBOARD CHECK (3:47 p.m.): We're a little more than halfway through the final round and the issues is still highly in doubt with leader Zach Johnson in trouble on No. 10 and seven player with three shots of the lead. And right behind that group is a cluster of four players at 11 under, four back, with plenty of golf still to go. -- Brian Wacker
BIRDIE ALERT (3:32 p.m.): Maybe James Driscoll isn't running out of holes too fast. Driscoll is now just one shot off the lead after draining a 23-foot eagle putt on the par-5 14th hole. That brings his round to 7 under on the day with only one bogey in his last 32 holes and that's allowed Driscoll to sneak up on the lead.
More about the 31-year-old Boston native: He had seven top 25s on the PGA TOUR in 2008 and has a Nationwide Tour victory on his resume, though that was in 2004 at the Virginia Beach Open. The former three-time All-American at Virginia was also runner-up top Jeff Quinney at the 2001 U.S. Amateur and was a member of the U.S. Walker Cup team. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Driscoll's scorecard so far:
DON'T OVERLOOK DRISCOLL (3:20 p.m.): One of the names rapidly climbing the leaderboard at LaCantera is James Driscoll, who is 5-under and bogey-free through 13 holes and just three back of the lead at the moment.
It's unlikely Driscoll will go on to win given that he's still three back and running out of holes, especially compared to the guys in front of him on the leaderboard, but he's certainly headed for the best finish of his season.
Driscoll has missed his last four cuts and has yet to finish in the top 50 in six tournaments on the PGA TOUR this year, but he continues to hit a lot of greens this week and it's paying off.
If Driscoll can hold his current position of T4, it will be the third top 5 of his career -- he shot a final-round 67 at TPC Sugarloaf to finish T5 at last year's AT&T Classic and was runner-up at the 2005 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. -- Brian Wacker
BOUNCE BACK (3:05 p.m.): Zach Johnson recovered from his first bogey in two days by making a birdie at the 321-yard, drivable par-4 seventh, where he hit the green in one, before two-putting from 11 feet. That moved Johnson to 15 under and back into first by himself for the moment with Marc Leishman and Paul Goydos just one back. -- Brian Wacker
CHANGE AT THE TOP (2:50 p.m.): Zach Johnson just made his first bogey in 34 holes with a three-putt on the 167-yard, par-3 sixth hole. That drops Johnson into a tie with Paul Goydos, who bounced back from an early bogey with a birdie at No. 5. Joining them atop the leaderboard? Aussie Marc Leishman, who just made his fourth birdie of the day.
Leishman is a rookie on the PGA TOUR this year after finishing 19th on the Nationwide Tour money list last season and while he might not have much experience on this stage, he has played some pretty remarkable golf in the past.
Last year, Leishman tied the Nationwide Tour's record for largest margin of victory with an 11-shot win at the WNB Golf Classic, where he finished 21-under par. He also shot an 8-under 63 in the second round of the Utah Classic and finished T7 at the Nationwide Tour Championship at Craig Ranch. -- Brian Wacker
INTERESTING STAT OF THE WEEK (2:20 p.m.): Over the last 50 years of the Valero Texas Open, 41 of the 48 winners shot 65 or lower at some point of the week. So far, that's holding true this week, too. Of the top four names on the leaderboard, all of them have at least one round of 65 or lower this week.
Current leader Zach Johnson shot a 60 yesterday, Paul Goydos a 65 on Friday, Marc Leishman a 64 on Thursday and Justin Leonard a 63 also on Thursday.
The last player to not shoot 65 or better at one point or another and win this event was Hal Sutton in 1998. Before that, Calvin Peete was the last to do it in 1984. It should also be noted that that this tournament moved to LaCantera in 1995 and next year will move to the new TPC San Antonio. -- Brian Wacker
ZACH'S ATTACK (2 p.m.): Zach Johnson is back to a two-stroke lead here in the final round and one of the reasons he's played so well and could be well on his way to successfully defending his title at LaCantera is his accuracy.
That's always been a hallmark of Johnson's game and he's continued that this week, having hit 82.5 percent of his greens in regulation, good for second in the field. That's also helped Johnson rank in the top 10 in putting. And just as important is how close Johnson is hitting them to the flag on his approaches with an average distance to the pin of just over 28 feet -- good for second in the field. -- Brian Wacker
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LAST GROUP ON THE COURSE (1:40 p.m.): The final threesome of the day is on the golf course and it took all of one hole for Paul Goydos to cut Zach Johnson's lead to one with a birdie on the second hole -- his first birdie there all week.
This is the first time this season that Goydos has been in this position -- he's missed 7 of 12 cuts -- and he's trying to win for the first time on the PGA TOUR since 2007, almost exactly one year after he suffered a heartbreaking playoff loss at THE PLAYERS Championship.
If Goydos can play the way he did in the first two rounds, that shouldn't be a problem. Below is a look at how LaCantera has played so far. -- Brian Wacker
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FINAL ROUND UNDER WAY (1:15 p.m.): After the third round was completed earlier this morning and the players re-paired, the final round got under way a couple of hours ago off split tees at the Valero Texas Open, where Paul Goydos recovered from a couple of early bogeys yesterday to play himself into the final group with Zach Johnson and Justin Leonard.
Johnson, meanwhile, is coming off that course-record tying round of 60 on Saturday, having completed the round just before the horn blew for the night. He now leads by two and will try to become the third player to successfully defend a title this year -- Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were the others.
As for Leonard, he's won this event three times and finished second twice. He's just three back and finished off a round of 67 earlier this morning. Given his track record here and how Johnson has been playing, the final group ought to provide plenty of intrigue. -- Brian Wacker
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