Golf
Back On The Winning Track
The man from Bright’s Grove waited five years to close out a tournament near the top of the leaderboard and he did it in style.
This was obviously his best tournament since finishing second at Pebble Beach in 2009 behind Dustin Johnson.
The lefty hadn’t had a top-25 finish since 2010, which was the same year he suffered a partial ligament tear in his right elbow before a stretch when he missed 17 cuts in a row — including all 14 tournaments he started in 2012.
“Best golf I played in a long time. I was happy with the way I played,” Weir said. “I was definitely determined to try to win today, but I can feel good about the way I handled things out there.”
Weir had birdies on four of the first five holes and was 13 under and ahead of Todd by two strokes when his tee shot at No. 5 settled 1 1/2 feet from the cup.
But Weir missed the fairway and green for a bogey at the 431-yard sixth hole. At the same time Todd, who played the last 31 holes at TPC Four Seasons without a bogey, was tapping in at the fifth.
Todd saw his ball settled at the base of a tree by the 13th green in the final round. As good as he is with his short game, it wasn’t natural for the slender 6-foot-3 Todd to set up left-handed and hit the ball with the back side of a 4-iron.
And it came in his first PGA Tour victory.
Todd saved par at the 185-yard 13th hole after knocking the ball to 7 feet, part of a bogey-free 4-under 66. He finished at 14-under 266.
It was the 77th career PGA Tour event for Todd, who twice in the past five years had to go back to back to the Web.com Tour to regain full playing privileges, which no one likes to do.
He earned $1,242,000 US, a PGA Tour exemption through the 2015-16 season and a spot next year in the Masters.
Todd, who took the lead for good with birdies at Nos. 9 and 10, is the fifth former University of Georgia player to win on the PGA Tour this season.
He joined Masters champion Bubba Watson, Harris English, Russell Henley and Chris Kirk. Todd also is the eighth first-time winner this season.
Weir, the 2003 Masters champion who won the last of his eight PGA Tour titles in 2007, finished 12 under. Charles Howell III and Marc Leishman tied for third at 10 under.
Weyburn’s Graham DeLaet finished in a tie for seventh place at 8 under par for the event.
After Todd hit his tee shot at the 195-yard second into a greenside bunker, his shot from the sand landed on the green and rolled in for a birdie.
When he knocked in a 14-foot birdie putt at the 181-yard fifth, he tied Weir — who made a bogey on No. 6 — for the lead at 12 under.
Howell shot a 67 with a three-putt bogey on the final hole, while Leishman had three bogeys in a five-hole stretch on the back nine for a 68.
Todd rolled in a 17-foot par-saver at No. 17, keeping a two-stroke lead over Weir going to the final hole. He needed only 99 putts in the four rounds.
Jordan Spieth from Dallas ranked eighth in the world, had a closing 68 to finish 2-under and tied for 37th at the tournament where he made the cut as an amateur at ages 16 and 17.
He finished two strokes behind 17-year-old Scott Scheffler, the top junior golfer from Dallas who played on a sponsor exemption.