Turning Stone Resort Championship, Round 4
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
Monday, Oct. 5, 2009
KUCHAR ENDS DROUGHT (9:30 a.m.) -- Matt Kuchar's win at the Turning Stone Resort Championship is his first on the PGA TOUR since 2002 when he won The Honda Classic, his first TOUR win.
"It's hard to believe it's been since 2002," Kuchar said after winning the six-hole playoff against Vaughn Taylor that was completed Monday. "... Nothing's as sweet as coming out on top for a week."
With the win, Kuchar moves from 59th to 25th in the money standings. He also continues his impressive play of late -- he finished 40th in the FedExCup standings thanks to a tie for 10th in his previous start, the BMW Championship.
PLAY-BY-PLAY, SIXTH PLAYOFF HOLE (9:23 a.m.) -- Vaughn Taylor still has the honors, and he sliced his tee shot into the water right of the fairway. Kuchar kept his driver and hit it onto the right side of the fairway. Taylor will drop 180 yards from the pin directly into a strong wind, and his shot finished well short of the green. He will need to get up-and-down for bogey. Kuchar, hitting a 5-iron from the fairway, flared his shot right of the green. Taylor's chip finished well short of the hole, and he will need to hole it for bogey. Kuchar chipped it stiff and will have a par putt to win the tournament. Taylor missed his bogey putt, and Kuchar rammed in his par putt for the win.
PLAY-BY-PLAY, FIFTH PLAYOFF HOLE (9:07 a.m.) -- Taylor still has the honors on the tee, and his shot found the right fairway. Kuchar drew his ball down the left side of the fairway. Neither will be able to get home in two. Taylor pulled a 3-wood and hit a low burner down the middle of the fairway. Kuchar also hit 3-wood and left it short and left. The pin is cut on the right of the green. Both players have a simple pitch shot to set up a birdie putt. Taylor has 111 yards to the pin into the wind, and he hit three-quarter 9-iron left and pin-high. Kuchar's wedge hung into the wind and sucked back into the front bunker. Kuchar must get up-and-down to keep this playoff going, and he blasted a fine bunker shot to four feet. Taylor left his birdie putt well short, and he tapped in for par. Kuchar easily sank his par putt. We're headed back to the 13th tee.
PLAY-BY-PLAY, FOURTH PLAYOFF HOLE (8:46 a.m.) -- We're headed to the 624-yard 18th hole, and it is unlikely Taylor or Kuchar will able to hit this green in two. Dustin Johnson won this tournament last year when he got up-and-down from the 18th green for birdie. Taylor still has the honors on the tee, and his tee shot went well down the left side of the fairway. Kuchar stepped up and nailed an identical tee shot that finished next to Taylor's ball. Kuchar took a 3-wood and hooked it into the left rough short and left of the green. He will have a relatively easy pitch to the green. Taylor also pulled a 3-wood and left it short and right of the green. Taylor short-sided himself for his third shot. Kuchar has an excellent angle into the pin, which is cut on the right of the green. Kuchar, hitting first, played a bump and run that ran well past the hole. Taylor took his lob wedge and lofted it over the bunker to only eight feet for birdie. Kuchar, putting first, stepped up and drained his right-to-left 20-footer into the cup for birdie. Taylor answered by easily running in his short putt for birdie. The playoff will move to the 580-yard par-5 12th hole.
PLAY-BY-PLAY, THIRD PLAYOFF HOLE (8:35 a.m.) -- Matt Kuchar hooked his tee shot left into the rough on the par-4 13th. Vaughan Taylor hit a perfect tee shot into the fairway. The pin this morning is cut on the front edge, and Kuchar hit a 5-iron from the rough but left it just short of the green. Taylor, despite his perfect lie in the fairway, hit a ballooned 6-iron that was well short of the green. Taylor, hitting first, flopped an excellent shot with a lob wedge to six feet for par. Kuchar elected to use a putter from just off the green, and his putt finished four feet from the hole. Taylor, putting first, left his par putt well right of the hole. Kuchar, putting for par -- and the win -- also left his par putt right of the hole. Taylor and Kuchar each tapped in for bogey. The playoff will move to the par-5 18th hole.
THEY'RE OFF (8:30 a.m.) -- Vaughn Taylor found the fairway with his drive on the par-4 13th, but Matt Kuchar landed in the rough to the left of the fairway. Lift, clean and place remains in effect Monday.
MONDAY PLAYOFF (7:45 a.m.) -- Vaughn Taylor and Matt Kuchar will soon meet on the 13th tee to determine the winner of the Turning Stone Resort Championship. Taylor's two prior PGA TOUR victories have come at the 2004 and 2005 Reno-Tahoe Open, while Kuchar's lone TOUR win occurred at the 2002 Honda Classic. We'll have updates from Atunyote as the two square off on Monday morning starting at 8:30 a.m. ET (the playoff finish can also be seen on the GOLF Channel). -- Lauren Deason
Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009
Catch up on all the action from the fourth round at Atunyote G.C., where Matt Kuchar and Vaughn Taylor ended Sunday night in a playoff that was forced to resume Monday morning.
PLAY SUSPENDED (6:50 p.m.): With darkness quickly descending on Turning Stone Resort, Vaughn Taylor and Matt Kuchar were given the option of stopping their playoff, which had reached a third hole, until tomorrow. With very little daylight, that's what the two chose to do. When they come back, they'll meet on the 13th tee at 8:30 a.m. ET. Taylor has parred the par-4 hole each of the four rounds, while Kuchar has three pars and a bogey there, the bogey coming on Sunday. -- Brian Wacker
PLAYOFF BOUND (5:52 p.m.): Needing a birdie on the 72nd hole to win the Turning Stone Championship, Matt Kuchar came up short in a bunker on his wedge approach from 65 yards on the par-5 finishing hole. Kuch did, however, get up-and-down to save par to force a playoff with Vaughn Taylor (click here to follow play-by-play of the playoff with Shot Tracker). -- Brian Wacker
TAYLOR ON TOP (5:25 p.m.): There are still a couple of golfers on the course who could catch Vaughn Taylor, but should he go on to win this tournament, he can thank his putter. Taylor took just 25 putts on Sunday, going 3-for-3 in the 10-15 foot range and 13-for-15 inside of 10 feet.
Seeing as how Taylor ranks 16th on the PGA TOUR in putting average, that shouldn't come as any surprise. What is a bit of a surprise is that he might win somewhere outside of Reno. Both of Taylor's wins have come at the Reno-Tahoe Open. -- Brian Wacker
STAT OF THE DAY (5:05 p.m.): Corey Pavin should have a commission check coming his way. Yesterday, he played with Mathias Gronberg, who tied the course record with a 64. Today, Pavin played with -- who else? -- Peter Lonard, who set a course record with a 63.
"We sort of decided, if I get 3, 4, 5 [under], I'm just going to keep going at the flags and take what I get," Lonard said.
He did just that, hitting all but two greens and two fairways in the final round. -- Brian Wacker
FINAL ROUND STARTING TO WIND DOWN (4:45 p.m.): You get the feeling this tournament is Matt Kuchar's to win. Vaughn Taylor is in the lead at 17 under, but Kuchar is one of three players only one stroke behind, and he has the most holes of anyone in contention.
Kuchar, though, has been up-and-down all day with five birdies and three bogeys. Meanwhile, Leif Olson and Tim Petrovic, who share that second spot with Kuchar, have fewer holes left in their rounds.
All this means, basically, that one of four players will likely win. And one of them isn't Peter Lonard, despite that course-record 63. Stay tuned. -- Brian Wacker
THE HOLE STORY (4:17 p.m.): With so many still in contention here in the final round of the Turning Stone Resort Championship, the tournament very well could be decided on the final hole. The 624-yard, par-5 18th, which is playing 602 yards today, is the fourth-easiest hole on the course for the week, but today it's playing as the easiest with a stroke average of 4.559 and two more birdies (28) than pars (26). However, there has only been one eagle there -- by Webb Simpson -- all day. -- Brian Wacker
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LOGJAM ON TOP (3:20 p.m.): There's still a lot of golf to be played at the Turning Stone Resort Championship, and that's probably a good thing given the logjam atop the leaderboard right now. Tim Petrovic just took the lead with a birdie at No. 10 to get to 15 under, but there are five players one shot back, only two of which are already in the clubhouse with Bo Van Pelt shooting a 65 and Jeev Milkha Singh a 64. And another stroke back from that are five more players. We could be in for a wild, wild finish. -- Brian Wacker
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LEADERS OFF (2 p.m.): The leaders teed off about 15 minutes ago and we've already had a change atop the leaderboard with Matt Kuchar making a bogey on the first hole to drop a shot back of Scott Piercy.
Meanwhile, Harrison Frazar, who came into the week 125th on the money list, should leave here much higher -- he's 6 under through 11 holes today and just one off the lead. Plenty of others are going low, too, with Bo Van Pelt, Jeev Milkha Singh and Rory Sabbatini all in contention, two back.
In other words, stay tuned. We're in for a Sunday shootout. -- Brian Wacker
LONARD SETS COURSE RECORD (1:25 p.m.): Peter Lonard missed two fairways, two greens and took just 25 putts today. In the end, it all added up to nine birdies and a course-record 63 for the Aussie, who moved from a tie for 49th at the start of the day to a tie for third at the moment.
Lonard hadn't broken 70 all week, but when you better your approach shot distance to the pin by 10 feet (to 22 feet, 11 inches), one-putt 11 holes and shoot a front-nine 30, it makes things a lot easier and it's no wonder he came within a stroke of his career low.
Unfortunately, Lonard probably won't end the day in a tie for third -- the leaders won't tee off for another 20 minutes -- but it will likely be his best result of the season. Prior to this week, Lonard had missed his last four cuts and earned just $188,481, making only 10 cuts in 26 events. Still, the Fall Series is made for guys like Lonard, who with a couple of more weeks like this could have a shot at cracking the top 125 on the money list. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Lonard's scorecard from today:
SUPER SCORING (1:05 p.m.): They've been playing lift, clean and place all week at Turning Stone, but the biggest difference between the first round and the last two-plus has been the weather. Thursday, rain and wind greeted the players, while the last few days it's been pretty benign. You give PGA TOUR pros the ability to lift, clean and place their ball, even in the rough, in good weather and you get the kind of numbers you see below. Expect more of the same today. -- Brian Wacker
| Scoring Averages at the par-72 Atunyota Golf Club | ||||||||||||||||||||
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MOVIN' ON UP (12:50 p.m.): Different day, same story. As in lots of low scoring at the Turning Stone Resort Championship, where Mathias Gronberg shot a 64 yesterday and where Peter Lonard is looking to do the same -- or better.
Lonard is 8 under through his first 15 holes, having shot a front-nine 30 and made six birdies in an eight-hole stretch at one point. The course record here is 64, but Lonard could break that certainly, especially with the par-5 18th still to come. -- Brian Wacker
TWO AT THE TOP (12:30 p.m.): Neither Scott Piercy nor Matt Kuchar have held or shared a 54-hole lead on the PGA TOUR before today. Piercy was second through three rounds at the 2009 FBR Open, eventually finishing in a tie for sixth. Kuchar was tied for fourth through 54 holes before shooting a final-round 6-under 66 to capture his first TOUR win at the 2002 Honda Classic.
Piercy, a rookie, had a pair of top-10 finishes in his first six TOUR starts, but has not had a top-20 finish since. He finished in a tie for sixth at the FBR Open in February and a tie for fifth at The Honda Classic in March.
No rookie has won on TOUR this year -- something that hasn't happened since 1998. Piercy, of course, is looking to change that. Last year, rookies Dustin Johnson and Marc Turnesa both won during the Fall Series.
Piercy earned his 2009 TOUR card by finishing ninth on the 2008 Nationwide Tour money list thanks mainly to victories at the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open and the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic. He also won $2 million dollars on his fifth wedding anniversary, shooting 68-65 to win the 2007 Ultimate Game at the Wynn Las Vegas G&CC, so he knows how to seal the deal.
Piercy has also made just one bogey in 54 holes -- at the par-3 16th in Round 1 -- the fewest of any player in the field. Matt Jones (68-72-70), who Monday qualified for the tournament, is bogey-free, but he made a double bogey at No. 11 in the second round.
Piercy has also hit 49 of 56 greens in regulation through 54 holes and ranks second in that category this week. Jonathan Byrd ranks first with 50 of 54 greens hit.
Kuchar, who missed the cut in his only other appearance at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in 2007, will likely set a personal-best with nine top-25s for the season. He recorded eight top-25s last year. -- Mark Williams
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