The Live Report: Shell Houston Open, Round 4
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
PLAYOFF PLAY-BY-PLAY, KIM WINS (6:17 p.m.): It took longer than he would have liked, but Anthony Kim got his third career victory on the first extra hole.
Kim two-putted from just inside 30 feet, making par, while Vaughn Taylor, who found the sand on his second and third shots, wasn't able to save par from the greenside bunker at No. 18.
For Kim the win validates all the changes he's made off the course. Kim has talked about how he's taking golf more seriously by putting in the needed practice, changing his eating habits and work ethic. Sunday, his labor bared fruit. Thumb surgery might await Kim, but so does the Masters, where, if he putts the way he did most of this week, he could be a serious contender.
For Taylor the loss is pure heartbreak. The Augusta, Ga., resident will be going hoe next week, but not to play in the Masters, which he'll miss for the second straight year. -- Brian Wacker
(6:06 p.m.): This time it was Vaughn Taylor who went bunker-to-bunker, finding one off the tee and another on his second shot. Anthony Kim, meanwhile, got his second shot over the ridge and onto the second level of the green, putting him in good position. -- Brian Wacker
(6 p.m.): Advantage Anthony Kim in the playoff with Vaughn Taylor. Kim hit a perfect tee shot up the right side of the fairway, while Taylor missed the fairway to the right into the fairway bunker. -- Brian Wacker
PLAYOFF BOUND (5:53 p.m.): Wow. Just when it looked like Anthony Kim would do what he has all week, saving par from all over the place, he went and missed a 5-footer on the 18th hole after going bunker-to-bunker on his second and third shots. The bogey means a playoff for Kim and Vaughn Taylor.
For this tournament, it's the second year in a row for a playoff with Paul Casey having won in extra holes last year. Stay tuned. -- Brian Wacker
TAYLOR BIRDIES 18 (5:41 p.m.): Augusta, Ga., resident Vaughn Taylor could be headed home. Taylor just rolled in a lengthy birdie putt on the 18th hole for a birdie. More importantly, it gets him to 12 under and within one of leader Anthony Kim, who is in a fairway bunker on the finishing hole. Should Kim make bogey, there will be a sudden-death playoff. -- Brian Wacker
FINAL ROUND WINDING DOWN (5:31 p.m.): We're deep into the final round here at Redstone and Anthony Kim is up two strokes with two to play. That, despite Kim hitting a spectator with his tee shot on the 17th hole. The woman who got struck didn't appear to be injured, though, telling Kim it was O.K. and that it "made her day." -- Brian Wacker
KIM STILL HANGING ON (5:02 p.m.): Apparently Anthony Kim's thumb injury hasn't derailed his aggressive play. Kim just hit driver off the deck on his second shot on the 600-yard par-5 15th.
Right behind Kim on the leaderboard is Vaughn Taylor, who trails by just one. Of course, if Taylor should rally to win he'd earn a trip home. Taylor lives in Augusta, Ga., and played college golf at AAugusta State. -- Brian Wacker
KIM TO MISS TIME (4:40 p.m.): Anthony Kim's lead is back down to just one after he managed just a par on the par-5 13th hole. The bigger problem, however, is that the thumb injury that Kim has battled for more than a year will require surgery. Kim told NBC that he's completely torn the ligament in his left thumb and that he's not ruled out surgery right after the Masters. -- Brian Wacker
TIGHT AT THE TOP (4:25 p.m.): What was once a three-shot lead was suddenly down to just one here on the back nine in Houston. Anthony Kim gave one back with a bogey on No. 10, and Vaughn Taylor was just one back after a birdie on No. 12, his fourh birdie of the day.
Kim, however, got back to a two-stroke lead with a birdie just now on the par-5 12th hole.
If there's a place to miss fairways, this is it. Kim has hit just 42 percent of his fairways, but he continues to make birdies thanks to his iron play, short game and putting. Kim now has nine birdies over his last 30 holes. -- Brian Wacker
MICKELSON CALLS ON DOCTOR (4:14 p.m.): Dr. Tom Buchholz was floored.
He had kidded that he would be available to caddie for Phil Mickelson if Jim "Bones" Mackay went down with a sprained ankle, but all they did was tease about it.
Until Sunday afternoon when Mickelson called Buchholz, the M.D. Anderson radiation oncologist who treats both Amy and Mary Mickelson, out of the crowd at the Shell Houston Open and had him caddie for three holes -- Nos. 14, 15 and 16.
And, oh, they went three-for-three on birdies. Of course, Phil had birdied the three holes previous to that, too. To go with three earlier double bogeys.
"I'd had it (with Bones),'' Mickelson said. Yes, he was kidding.
Buchholz has a track record. Between college and medical school, he caddied at Westchester Country Club and toted Allen Miller's bag in the 1984 Westchester Classic. Miller tied for 10th.
"He was very kind to me out there,'' Buchholz said. "I asked him not to hit into the traps. I'm not so good there.''
His handicap? '"We shouldn't go there,'' he chuckled.
Also following Mickelson was Dr. Kelly Hunt, who performed the surgeries on Amy and Phil's mom. Mickelson gave her a signed flag from the 2004 Masters.
Mickelson called them the best doctors in the world. In fact, through tournament director Steve Timms, he made sure 10 different M.D. Anderson doctors got four tickets each to attend the SHO during the week.
He called Hunt and Buchholz the best doctors in the world. And the latter a pretty good caddie.
"I kept making birdies,'' he said. "When I did call Bones back in because he looked a little too comfortable standing in the stands, having a drink and burger. Needed to get him back out. Of course, we finished with two pars. So, lesson to be learned."
Mickelson's roller-coaster closing 71 bodes well for next week.
"My goal is to get ready for next week. I hit drivers on a lot of holes, and I was able to keep it out of the hazards of the last eight holes. That seemed to be the big difference. I was able to make birdie." -- Brian Wacker
MICHEEL MATCHES LOW ROUND (4 p.m.): It's been a long time since Shaun Micheel has made any noise on the PGA TOUR -- that PGA Championship victory was seven years ago.
Playing with only past champion status this season, though, Micheel took a giant step forward with a final-round 65 that has him currently tied for second, 24 spots higher on the leaderboard than where he bean his day.
Because of Micheel's lack of status, this is just his third TOUR event this season. His best finish prior to this week was a tie for 17th in Mexico. He's also played in two Nationwide Tour events, tying for 16th in Panama. His play here, though, should help him get into more tournaments.
As for Micheel's round, he missed just two greens and two fairways all day on his way to eight birdies and one bogey. Check out his scorecard below, or click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
KIM KEEPS ON ROLLING (3:38 p.m.): Anthony Kim is nearing the turn here in the final round, and he now leads by three after a birdie on No. 8. That's Kim's third birdie of the day -- and he has zero bogeys. More impressively, though, Kim is making everything on the greens right now. He's taken just 10 putts through his first eight holes and appears on his way to his first win in two seasons. -- Brian Wacker
BIRDIE ALERT (3:04 p.m.): Anthony Kim still has the lead -- by two over Vaughn Taylor at the moment -- but Shaun Micheel has moved into contention at 9 under, three strokes back. Micheel has birdied four of his last seven holes and has seven birdies in all here in the final round. That's now 10 birdies and just two bogeys for Micheel, playing this season on past champion status, over his last 32 holes. -- Brian Wacker
MICKELSON'S WILD RIDE (2:43 p.m.): The good news for Phil Mickelson: He made six straight birdies on the back nine. The bad news: He shot 39 on the front in what's becoming an all-too-common occurrence for Mickelson, who shot 71 Sunday.
Mickelson broke 70 just once at Redstone (an opening-round 69), but he will head to Augusta with at least a little momentum thanks to that birdie barrage. For those of you keeping score at home, Mickelson's streak ended on the 17th, where his approach shot came up about 45 feet short of the hole and he two-putted for par. Mickelson added another par on No. 18.
He won't be terribly happy, but that's a seven-shot swing for the better. Below is a look at Mickelson's scorecard. Click here to replay the round with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
KIM EXTENDS LEAD (2:20 p.m.): Anthony Kim now leads by two strokes after Bryce Molder bogeyed the third hole to drop back to 9 under.
Kim and Molder began the day tied for the lead at 10 under. Kim birdied the opening hole to take a one-shot lead, then Molder made his bogey. -- Brian Wacker
PHIL-ING IT UP (1:58 p.m.): Phil Mickelson's first nine holes here in the final round at Redstone: Two double bogeys and a 39. His last six holes: six straight birdies.
Mickelson is well off the lead at 2 under for the week, but he's sure looking to go out strong. Mickelson's birdie barrage began on No. 11, where he rolled in a 15-footer. He followed by trying to drive the green on the short par-4 12th, where he got up-and-down from the bunker for birdie. Mickelson then reached the par-5 13th in two and two-putted from 58 feet. Mickelson then hit approaches inside 10 feet on Nos. 14 and 15 before adding one more birdie from just over 11 feet on the par-3 16th. -- Brian Wacker
LEADERS OFF (1:42 p.m.): The final group of the day, Anthony Kim and Bryce Molder, teed off about 10 minutes ago and it didn't take long for Kim to separate himself. Kim birdied the first hole, where he holed out from just off the green.
For Kim, this is the fourth time in his young career that he's held or shared the lead going into the final round. Only once has he closed the deal, at the 2008 Wachovia Championship. After getting off to a good start with that early birdie, he's now in position to add a second.
Molder, on the other hand, has never held or shared the 54-hole lead.
One other side note on Kim, only four players in the history of the Shell Houston Open have shot all four rounds in the 60s. Kim is looking to become the fifth.
Click here to follow Kim and Molder's group live with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
ROUND OF THE DAY (1:30 p.m.): The round of the day, and the week, was just turned in by Ben Curtis, who shot 65. That catapulted him 45 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 10th.
If Curtis can stay in the top 10, it will be his second straight week with a top-10 finish after he finished sixth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. Sunday, Curtis, who hadn't broken 70 all week, was spot on in the final round with just one missed fairway and one missed green on his way to eight birdies and one bogey.
Curtis might have some company, though, by the end of the day with Ben Crane quickly climbing the leaderboard at 5 under through his first 12 holes today. See Curtis' scorecard below, or click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
TAYLOR ON TARGET (1:05 p.m.): Unlike Anthony Kim, Vaughn Taylor has been a model of accuracy. Taylor leads the field in greens in regulation through the first three rounds -- he's missed just six of them all week -- and as a result he's just two shots off the lead of Kim and Bryce Molder. Unlike Kim, though, when Taylor has missed the green, he's made par or better just once. Obviously Taylor will need to keep hitting it on the green if he wants to get his first win since 2005. -- Brian Wacker
MOLDER FINALLY BREAKING OUT (12:50 p.m.): This has been a long time coming for Bryce Molder, a college star in the 1990s who never really lived up to expectation -- until now. Call it the Matt Kuchar syndrome. But here's Molder, tied for the lead entering the final round.
A big reason Molder is in this spot is his putting. He's one-putted half his greens (second in the field) and hasn't missed anything inside of 5 feet (38-for-38). That may sound trivial, but on a course tricked up to replicate Augusta National, they are important numbers. -- Brian Wacker
| Bryce Molder - This Week vs. 2010 Season | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BIRDIES FROM EVERYWHERE (12:30 p.m.): Rough isn't much of an issue at Redstone. Still, when a guy ranks near the bottom of the field in fairways hit, his name usually isn't at the top of the leaderboard. That's Anthony Kim, though.
Kim is 70th in driving accuracy out of 72 players to make the cut. The flip side, of course, is that he leads the field in making birdie or better from the rough. And when he's missed the green, his short game has shined with Kim making par or better 12 of 16 times.
The most staggering number, though, is 327 feet, 4 inches. That's the total amount of distance of putts made for Kim this week. That's 111 more feet than the field average and 34 more feet than the next-best player. See the chart below for more. -- Brian Wacker
| Anthony Kim - This Week vs. The Field vs. 2010 Season | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WEATHER REPORT (12:15 p.m.): The wind could once again be an issue today in Houston, where it will blow in the 10-20 mph range. The bigger problem, though, could be hydration. At least it was Saturday for Lee Westwood.
Westwood went through 11 bottles of water on the back nine alone after not drinking enough fluids on the front on what was a very warm day. Today, the high will be in the low 80s. That's warm, but shouldn't present much of a problem as long as guys are staying hydrated. -- Brian Wacker
SETTING UP THE FINAL ROUND (12 p.m.): Two players in the final group get to show us how they've matured from prodigies to pros in the final round. Anthony Kim admits he hasn't handled the successes of 2008 as well as he might have after being hailed as "the next big thing" coming out of high school and college. Bryce Molder was Anthony Kim once, in college at Georgia Tech in the mid-90s when he was one of only a handful of four-time All-Americans, but had fallen on hard times early in his pro career. Both showed great resilience in the third round, Kim rebounding from two bogeys in his first three holes to shoot 69, Molder rinsing a ball at the 18th but still saving par.
Kim and Molder will have the whole tournament in front of them, and with the numerous scoreboards on the course, they'll know if someone goes off like Justin Leonard did Saturday, shooting 8-under par through his first 11 holes. Leonard began the day eight shots back and had a putt for the solo lead on the 12th hole. The winds are expected to stay down on Sunday, giving the field the green light to attack. -- Bob Stevens
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