The Live Report: Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Sunday
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
BOHN GETS IT DONE (5:50 p.m.): The story has been written countless times, Jason Bohn making a hole-in-one for $1 million in the 1992 Hole-in-One Shootout while at the University of Alabama.
Sunday, he nearly holed out again. Instead of an ace, though, it set up a tap-in birdie on the 18th hole to cap a final-round 67 that gave him his second career PGA TOUR victory and first since 2005.
Bohn, who led wire-to-wire, was bogey-free in the final round and made just four bogeys all week, finishing in the top six in greens hit and in putting. He also birdied three of his final four holes on his way to the two-shot victory.
For his victory, Bohn will get more than $1 million this time. He'll also have a TOUR card for the next couple of years and get a bevy of other rewards, which includes a trip to next year's Masters. Not a bad way to celebrate turning 37, which Bohn did over the weekend.
"I'm probably the only guy on the PGA TOUR who has tears when he's putting out on 18," Bohn told CBS, before hugging Peter Kostis. "Unbelievable.
"I knew if I stayed patient and stayed within myself it was going to happen." -- Brian Wacker
DOWN TO ONE (5:30 p.m.): Jeff Overton had a chance to cut his deficit to one with one hole to play, but he missed his 15-foot birdie putt, pulling it left of the hole. That will leave him two shots back going to the par-5 18th, which he'll most certainly need to reach in two to have a chance to force a playoff with Jason Bohn, who is closing in on his second career TOUR victory. -- Brian Wacker
SWEET 16 (5:15 p.m.): Jason Bohn just birdied the 16th hole for the second time this week and now takes a two-shot lead with two holes to play. That's because Jeff Overton, putting from about 16 feet, missed his birdie chance. With the par-5 18th still to come, and Overton a long player off the tee, though, Bohn might need those two shots. -- Brian Wacker
DOWN THE STRETCH (5:05 p.m.): Jason Bohn is hanging onto a one-shot lead with just a few holes to play, but rookie Jeff Overton has been playing like anything but a rookie in the last round.
Overton has yet to make a bogey in Round 4 and he's also made five birdies. He's also coming up on a stretch -- Nos. 16, 17 and 18 -- that he's played in 5 under this week, again without a bogey.
Bohn, meanwhile, hasn't made a bogey either. He has three birdies here in the final round, but he hasn't played the closing holes as well with two birdies and two bogeys and five pars. Stay tuned. -- Brian Wacker
BOHN BACK IN FRONT (4:45 p.m.): We're deep into the final round and Jason Bohn just rolled in a 5-footer for birdie to take the lead by himself with just three holes left in his round. -- Brian Wacker
CLOCK MANAGEMENT (4:26 p.m.): Jason Bohn and Jeff Overton are tied for the lead at 15 under, but they're also on the clock. The group was put on the clock on the 12th hole. -- Brian Wacker
JANZEN EAGLES (4:08 p.m.): Lee Janzen just holed out for eagle from the fairway on the 13th hole, which gets him to 13 under and within two of the lead.
A few players have now holed out from the fairway, though Ted Purdy still has the best shot of the day and week with a hole-in-one earlier on No. 14. Purdy shot 72. -- Brian Wacker
BOHN BACK ON TOP (3:56 p.m.): Jason Bohn has moved back on top of the leaderboard thanks to a birdie on the par-5 11th.
It's just Bohn's second birdie of the day, but he hasn't made a bogey, either. -- Brian Wacker
INSIDE THE NUMBERS (3:45 p.m.): Why has Jason Bohn been caught? Well, through his first nine holes he's done exactly what he didn't do in the first three rounds: miss fairways and miss putts. See below for more on Bohn's stats. -- Brian Wacker
PLAYOFF FEVER (3:10 p.m.): The Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf is currently in a playoff, and we could see a playoff here as well. There's still plenty of golf left, but Troy Merritt and Jason Bohn are tied for the top spot at 14 under, three shots clear of Greg Chalmers and Lee Janzen.
The last playoff here was in 2005 when Tim Petrovic beat James Driscoll. -- Brian Wacker
THREE TIED AT 13 (2:45 p.m.): Troy Merritt has now played his last four holes in 5 under thanks to a birdie on the par-4 10th hole, where he rolled in a 21-footer for his fourth birdie of the day.
Remember, Merritt won q-school and is a guy who won nine college tournaments, including an NCAA-record five in a row, while at Boise State. He led the NCAA scoring average his senior year and in his first two years at Division II Winona State he won a dozen tournaments. -- Brian Wacker
MERRITT MAKES A MOVE (2:35 p.m.): Jason Bohn and Jeff Overton are still tied for the lead at 13 under with a dozen holes left in their round, but Troy Merritt has moved within one after a 33 on the front nine that included three birdies and an eagle (he also made two bogeys).
The eagle for Merritt, who has missed his last seven cuts, came on the par-4 eighth, where he nearly drove the green on the 372-yard hole before holing a pitch shot from 30 yards. -- Brian Wacker
LEADER UPDATE (2:06 p.m.): The other player that's nipping at Jason Bohn? Jeff Overton, who just pulled into a tie for the lead with three birdies through his first five holes. Jason Bohn, meanwhile, has made nothing but pars through his first five holes.
Overton has been good everywhere this week, ranking 10th in putts per green in regulation, third in driving distance, and 18th in greens in regulation. -- Brian Wacker
THOMPSON MAKING A MOVE (1:45 p.m.): Jason Bohn is still in the lead, but he's got company in Nicholas Thompson, who has moved within two strokes thanks to six birdies and just one bogey through 12 holes.
Thompson continues to do it with the flat stick. He's tied for seventh in the field in putts per green in regulation and in the final round is averaging just 1.4 putts. -- Brian Wacker
LOOKING FOR NO. 1 (1:38 p.m.): If Alex Cejka, who is making his 217th career PGA TOUR start, is going to get his first win, he's got some work to do. Cejka is already 2 over through his first three holes, dropping him four shots off Jason Bohn's lead of 13 under.
This is Cejka's seventh start at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where his best previous was a tie for eighth in 2007. He missed the cut last year.
Prior to this week, Cejka had only made half of 10 cuts this season with a tie for 10th at Pebble Beach his best result. made 10 starts in 2010, in which he made the cut five times. His best finish of the season thus far is a T10 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Cejka does, however, have 11 international victories. -- Brian Wacker
EARLY MOVER (1:25 p.m.): The biggest move of the final round is being made by Chad Collins right now. He just made the turn in 31 with five birdies -- including four in a row at one point -- to climb 40 spots on the leaderboard and into a tie for 16th at the moment.
Four of those birdies for Collins came from 10 feet or longer, including a 24-footer on the par-3 third hole.
Collins' best results this year have both come at alternate-field events with a tie for fourth in Mexico and a tie for 10th in Puerto Rico. Collins' best career score on the PGA TOUR, by the way is a 65, which he's shot three times. He was also impressive on the Nationwide Tour last season, finishing second on the money list to earn his card for this season. -- Brian Wacker
COURSE STORY (1:15 p.m.): Everyone is on the golf course here in the final round at TPC Louisiana. The sun is out and the wind is steady, which means the course should play closer to the way it did in the first round than in the last two. Here's a look at how it played through each of the first three rounds. -- Brian Wacker
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COUCH ON COURSE (1:05 p.m.): Chris Couch bogeyed his final hole of the third round Sunday morning and even though he birdied the first hole here in the final round, he just made a double bogey on the par-5 second. Couch made a mess of No. 2, beating the ball around the hole's native areas, missing the green on his third and fourth shots before two-putting from just over 20 feet.
Still, Couch, who won this tournament in 2005, is 9 under for the week and currently tied for fifth. Playing on a Major Medical, Couch had 21 tournaments this year to earn $796,087 and retain that status for the remainder of the 2010 season. This is his 10th start of the year and he's already earned $577,677. If he ties for sixth or better, he'll earn the $218,410 he needs. -- Brian Wacker
WHEN BOHN LEADS (12:38 p.m.): This marks the second time Jason Bohn has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead. He previously was tied for the lead after round three of the 2005 Deutsche Bank Championship, before ultimately finishing second.
Six times this year the third-round leader has gone on to win, most recently by Jim Furyk at the Transitions Championship.
Bohn's best finish this year is a tie for 10th at the Northern Trust Open in February. He finished in a tie for 11th at the Shell Houston Open three weeks ago. Should Bohn win, he would also become the third wire-to-wire winner on TOUR this year. Previously, Ryan Palmer achieved the feat at the Sony Open in Hawaii, as did Dustin Johnson at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. -- Doug Milne
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FINAL ROUND UNDER WAY (12:30 p.m.): Thanks to good weather Saturday and an early start on Sunday, things are pretty much back on schedule at TPC Louisiana. The third round concluded 10:45 a.m. Sunday with players getting an hour break before the final round began without a re-pairing.
After a third-round, 1-under 71, Jason Bohn owns a two-stroke lead over Alex Cejka going into the final round. Paired in the last group with John Senden (5 under) and Jeff Overton (10 under), the threesome begins the final round in about 15 minutes.
Without players getting re-paired, that could make for some interesting scoreboard watching with a winner potentially coming from almost anywhere on the golf course. -- Brian Wacker
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