Live Report: AT&T Pebble Beach, Round 4
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AND STILL CHAMP (6:15 p.m.): Dustin Johnson just made a clutch 4-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole to successfully defend his title at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
The birdie finished off a roller-coaster round of 74 that gave the big-hitting South Carolinian a one-stroke victory over David Duval and J.B. Holmes. Johnson finished at 16 under.
The victory was the third of Johnson's career. The 25-year-old now joins Sean O'Hair as the only Americans in their 20s with three or more TOUR wins. He's just the fifth player to successfully defend his title in the tournament.
With the hard-fought victory, Johnson takes over the lead in the FedExCup with 771 points. -- Helen Ross
DOWN TO ONE: (6:06 p.m.) Now it's all up to Dustin Johnson. J.B. Holmes just missed a 13-footer for birdie on the 72nd hole that would have given him sole possession of the lead.
Johnson then put his second shot into the short, right greenside bunker. He needs to get up and down for birdie, or there will be a three-way playoff. -- Helen Ross
PLAYOFF LOOMS? (6 p.m.): Dustin Johnson found the back greenside bunker at the 17th hole. He blasted out, 22 feet past the pin, and two-putted for bogey.
So Johnson is now tied with J.B. Holmes and David Duval. Holmes is playing his second shot at the par-5 18th while Duval is in the house at 11 under. -- Helen Ross
ON THE MOVE (5:38 p.m.): J.B. Holmes has been working with Dave Stockton on his putting in the last three weeks. Even without Stockton's advice, though, Holmes probably could have negotiated that 3-footer for birdie on the 16th hole.
The birdie putt, which was set up by a brilliant shot from the left rough and threaded through the trees, moved him within a stroke of the lead.
Holmes, who trails Dustin Johnson by one, has the length to attack the par-5 18th hole. -- Helen Ross
CLOSING IN (5:22 p.m.): David Duval just made a 12-footer for birdie at the 17th hole to pull within a stroke of Dustin Johnson. The last time Duval won a golf tournament was at the 2001 British Open -- when he was also No. 1 in the world. -- Helen Ross
INTIMIDATION FACTOR (5:10 p.m.): Paul Goydos and Dustin Johnson waited and watched in the 14th fairway as Bryce Molder quadruple bogeyed the par 5.
Molder sent his third shot over the green and his chipped his fourth back across and off the front. Two chips came back to him before Molder finally found the putting surface and two-putted for the 9. Alex Prugh had also made a 9 on the hole about 30 minutes earlier.
Then it was Goydos' turn. He hit his third shot short of the green and had to try a delicate chip over the bunker for his fourth. The ball didn't hold the green and his fifth didn't find the putting surface, either.
Goydos' sixth shot settled 22 feet from the pin and he three-putted for the third 9 of the day on the 14th hole. So he went from a one-stroke lead to a tie for fourth, three shots behind Johnson. -- Helen Ross
BACK ON TOP (4:42 p.m.): Another hole, another deficit off the tee. But Paul Goydos, who was 44 yards behind Johnson in the fairway, made his second shot count when his approach landed 7 feet from the pin.
Goydos made the putt for birdie and regained the lead at 17 under. Johnson is one back while David Duval, Bryce Molder and J.B. Holmes are three. -- Helen Ross
GOING BACKWARDS (4:25 p.m.): Dustin Johnson and Paul Goydos just found bunkers on the opposite sides of the 12th green and both made bogeys. Goydos missed a 21-footer for par while Johnson misfired from 6.
About the same time, though, David Duval, bogeyed the par-5 12th -- hitting his drive into a fairway bunker and later playing ping-pong from one side of the fringe to the other, missing a 13-footer for par.
Instead of being one stroke off the lead as he tries to win for the first time since the 2001 British Open, Duval is now two back and tied with Bryce Molder and J.B. Holmes. -- Helen Ross
CAN'T STAND PROSPERITY (4:10 p.m.): And now there are two. Paul Goydos just missed a 12-footer for par after putting his approach at the 11th hole in the bunker.
So now he and Dustin Johnson are tied at 17 under. Suddenly David Duval, who is 2 under through 13 holes, and Bryce Molder, who's 1 under through 11, are just two strokes back. -- Helen Ross
TOUGH TRACK (4 p.m.): Pebble Beach is definitely not being as generous as it was in the first three rounds.
The current scoring average is 73.108 after the course played more than one stroke under par each of the first three rounds.
So far, the best score belongs to Jonathan Byrd, who is 4 under through 12 holes. On the other side of the ledger, Garrett Willis and Vaughn Taylor have finished with 77s and there are two players on the course who are 6 over.
At least Pebble Beach looks spectacular on TV. -- Helen Ross
OOPS AWARD: (3:40 p.m.) The golf gods giveth and they taketh away. Three holes after Dustin Johnson regained sole possession of the lead with an eagle, he gave it back with a double bogey at the ninth hole.
Johnson's troubles began when he missed the green at the 481-yard par 4. He chipped to 16 feet and missed the putt for par -- but things got even worse. Johnson then missed the 3-footer for bogey and had to make a 2-footer for the double.
Goydos, meanwhile, made his par and now owns a one-stroke lead. -- Helen Ross
STEADY AND READY (3:20 p.m.) Luke Donald, who finished second to Steve Stricker at last week's Northern Trust Open, continues to play well.
The Englishman is 2 under through 14 holes at Pebble Beach on Sunday. He's 10 under for the tournament and one stroke out of another top-10 finish.
Donald will be playing next week at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona. Don't count the two-time Ryder Cup veteran out at Dove Mountain. -- Helen Ross
STELLAR NINE (3 p.m.): Jonathan Byrd isn't threatening the lead but he's making a big move up the leaderboard.
The South Carolinian started on the back nine and just made the turn in 5 under. He's moved 32 spots up the leaderboard, as a result. Byrd's nine-hole tally of 31 was one shot off the record for that segment shot by Dan Phol in 1980.
Byrd got his round off to a good start when he chipped in for birdie at the 10th hole. He made a 7-foot birdie putt at No. 12 and an 18-footer at the 13th. At the scenic 17th, Byrd hit his approach just 13 inches from the pin and he followed with a 3-footer for birdie at No. 18. -- Helen Ross
LEAP FROG (2:40 p.m.): Dustin Johnson has regained sole possession of the lead at 19 under with an eagle at the 529-yard sixth hole.
The big-hitting 25-year-old -- who is 12 holes away from a successful title defense -- unleashed a 325-yard drive and a pin-point approach that settled 4 feet from the pin.
His playing partner, Paul Goydos, hit a 290-yard drive but bunkered his second shot. He blasted out and two-putted for the par that left him at 18 under. -- Helen Ross
FINALLY FELL (2:25 p.m.): Paul Goydos finally got a putt to drop at the fourth hole, and the 8-footer for birdie moved him to 19 under for the tournament.
But that two-shot lead became one at the par-3 fifth when Goydos missed the green on the upslope above a bunker, chipped on and two-putted from 25 feet for bogey.
Dustin Johnson remains 1 over and one back. Up ahead, J.B. Holmes also bogeyed the third hole so he's three behind Goydos. -- Helen Ross
GIVING CHASE (2:05 p.m.): If the leaders aren't careful, J.B. Holmes just might come from behind and catch them.
The big-hitting man from Kentucky has made two birdies in his first four holes to pull within two shots of Paul Goydos' lead. Holmes, now 16 under, has quietly hovered around the top of the board all week.
Holmes' first birdie on Sunday came at the par-5 second hole where he nearly reached the green in two despite hitting his drive 296 yards and into the right fairway bunker. He chipped on a made a 16-footer for birdie there.
Holmes' other birdie came at No. 4 where he rolled n an 11-footer. He continues to putt well -- using just 82 over his first three rounds -- so that work with Dave Stockton is paying dividends. -- Helen Ross
FOUR IN A ROW? (1:50 p.m.) Alex Prugh is working on his fourth straight top-10 finish Sunday at Pebble Beach.
The 25-year-old rookie from Spokane, Wash., has birdied three of his first seven holes to move to 12 under. He made a 9-footer at the par-5 second, an 8-footer at No. 3 and he just rolled in a 30-inch putt for birdie at the par-3 seventh.
In his last three starts, Prugh has two top-five finishes and a tie for 10th at Riviera last week. -- Helen Ross
ON THE MOVE (1:30 p.m.): The biggest move early Sunday is being made by PGA TOUR rookie Josh Teater. He's 4 under through seven holes and has latched onto sole possession of seventh place at 13 under.
Teater had only played one TOUR event prior to this year. The Morehead State graduate earned his TOUR card after finishing seventh on the Nationwide Tour money list in his rookie year on that circuit.
Teater's best finish in three event this year is a tie for 54th at the Farmers Insurance Open. He's looking at a much bigger payday on Sunday, though.
By the way, Teater is from Kentucky and works with Matt Killen, who also is the instructor for J.B. Holmes and Kenny Perry. Holmes is currently third at 15 under. -- Helen Ross
MICKELSON UPDATE (1:15 p.m.): Phil Mickelson said he needed to shoot 61 or 62 at Pebble Beach on Sunday to have a shot at catching the leaders. But he's going in the wrong direction after playing his first five holes in 1 over.
Mickelson's putting has been inconsistent over the last two weeks. For example, he used just 25 on Saturday in shooting 69 at Pebble Beach but he only hit nine greens. He had 30 and 33 putts in the first two rounds.
"It feels close," Mickelson said Saturday. "I feel like I've been hitting a lot of good shots and not getting the score that I feel I should. Sometimes that's just a matter of time. It just will hopefully click sometime soon."
Mickelson will not be playing at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship next week due to a family vacation. He is expected back for the Waste Management Phoenix Open, though, and is the defending champion of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship the following week. -- Helen Ross
DRIVE FOR DOUGH (1 p.m): Let the comparisons begin. The first time Dustin Johnson hit driver, his ball traveled 294 yards. Paul Goydos, on the other hand, hit his drive on the second hole 264 yards.
Of course, Johnson bogeyed his first hole, when he couldn't get up and down from the right greenside bunker. So Goydos now leads alone at 18 under. -- Helen Ross
DUVAL DUEL (12:45 p.m.): It the stars align and his game cooperates, David Duval could find himself winning today for the first time since the 2001 British Open. At the very least, he could earn his first top-10 finish since he tied for second at last year's U.S. Open.
Duval faces a tough challenge, though. He started the final round six strokes off the lead held jointly by Dustin Johnson and Paul Goydos, and he knows what he has to do.
"There's not a whole a lot to the recipe," Duval said. "Just try to hit in the fairway and give yourself some putts for birdies. The greens being kind of soft and bumpy like they are, some are gonna bounce in and come are gonna will bounce out."
Duval has been doing everything pretty well this week at Pebble Beach. He is tied for 15th in greens in regulation and is tied for eighth in putting, using just 86 over the first three rounds.
"Just driven it pretty well, hit my irons pretty well, and I actually putted real well," Duval said.
"I like being here a lot. Feel very comfortable here, and just look forward to the event every year. I think it's an important tournament for us as an organization, and try to support it and be here." -- Helen Ross
PERFECT WEEK OF WEATHER CONCLUDES (12:45 p.m. ET) -- Another gorgeous, sunny day on the Monterey Peninsula. Not sure what we did to deserve this, but it's been an awesome week. Temperatures will top out in the low-60s and the winds are expected to be calm. Look for lots of birdies at Pebble Beach today.
Those high surf warnings persist, though, and the danger became strikingly evident at nearby Carmel Beach when a man was caught in a riptide and drowned. And just north of Half Moon Bay, 13 people watching the Mavericks Surf Contest were injured, some suffering broken legs and hands, when they were swept off a seawall. Another 40 were knocked off their feet by a series of strong waves.
For the record, South African Chris Bertish won the $50,000 first prize.in what the San Francisco Chronicle called the "Super Bowl of Surfing." At stake at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, though, is a $1.116 million payoff. -- Helen Ross
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