Zack Johnson Wins Second Consecutive Texas Shootout

It was an old-fashioned shootout at LaCantera in the 2009 Valero Texas Open. One for old time’s sake as the tournament is moving to a new venue called TPC San Antonio next year. And what a shootout it was with two 63s in the first round, a 62 in the second, a 60 in the third and a 62 in the final round.

All in all, there were 19 rounds posted at six-under 64 and better. Ten of the top 16 finishers had one of those hot rounds though nobody had two. Use that one bullet wisely as you will likely not get a second chance.

Don’t get it wrong- the Resort Course at LaCantera is no marshmallow. The cut came at 1-under par which is more than respectable on the PGA TOUR. The cut at the Bob Hope Classic this year was 15-under though it was a four round cut.

Notables to miss the cut were Chez Reavie, caddie Lance Ten Broeck and his player Jesper Parnevik. Okay so maybe the field was a little weaker than last week’s PLAYERS Championship.

It was classic Old Texas style though. You knew the good sheriff in the white hat Zach Johnson would be hanging around town come Sunday afternoon. Or maybe it should have been Justin Leonard. And not that James Driscoll is a bad guy but when he rode into town shooting off a 62 on Sunday you knew there was going to be trouble.

The Texas shootout continued into a playoff for the final draw for the second time in the last three years. In 2007 Justin Leonard won his third Valero Texas Open title beating Jesper Parnevik in a three hole sudden death playoff. Just long enough to finish all that great tasting Rudy’s BBQ.

This year Zach Johnson moved into position with a 60 in the third round and then defeated James Driscoll with a birdie on the first playoff hole to record his second consecutive Valero Texas Open title.

In this rendition the gun-slinger Driscoll shot his 62 earlier in the day and waited around in the saloon for the sheriff to show up for the climatic duel. This isn’t soccer where you get another chance in the shootout.

Earlier in the week the talk was all about the change in schedule for the Valero Texas Open and what impact course conditions would have on the play of the golfers.

With the demise of the AT&T Classic at TPC Sugarloaf outside Atlanta, GA a slot opened up on the PGA TOUR schedule and the tournament moved from a fall series slot to become part of the reformulated Texas Swing.

Not much was the general consensus since the winter rye overseed has mostly died out and hot temperatures in May seemed like October last year. The greens might have been a little softer a little slower though the big news was a weather front that came through Saturday afternoon dumping almost two inches of rain.

More importantly it changed the wind direction 180 degrees to out of the north which meant a new golf course almost one year early.

Defending champion Zach Johnson echoed those sentiments earlier in the week. “The golf course really isn't a lot different than what I saw seven months ago. It's rolling nice on the fairways, and I think the heat got to the greens a little bit, but if you hit it on line, it's a pretty good chance they're going in.

"A little slow, but it'll get quicker as the week goes on. Humidity and heat probably play a part in it. But they're still pretty good. Best putter and ball striker should come out on top.”

Johnson has to be wondering if the PGA TOUR deal and schedule makers are working against him. He has won twice at TPC Sugarloaf and it is no more. “I've had a lot of success at Sugarloaf, but we're not playing there anymore, unfortunately.”

Now a two-time winner at the Resort Course at LaCantera and voila it is no longer on the PGA TOUR rota. His only other win is at the Masters Tournament in 2007. Please don’t tell me they are moving the Masters from Augusta National or moving Boo Weekley’s Harbour Town.

On Thursday, it was Goydos in the morning and three-time Valero Champion Justin Leonard in the afternoon coming out hot and opening with 63s.

Goydos who shot 29 on the front-none certainly wasn’t speaking to mere mortal amateur golfers when he noted: “It's always fun to shoot 29. Shoot in the 20s, that's just to me one of the coolest things you can do as a Tour player in golf.

If you get the opportunity to do it, it's kind of cool.” Where does one get the opportunity? Fantasy golf for sure. Tiger’s video games maybe. But in real life, nada.

Leonard, always the analytical one discerned the subtle differences between fall and spring golf course conditions. “It's a different golf course right now than it is in the fall. I think if the wind doesn't blow, I think we'll see some pretty low scoring, because it's softer.

"They have to keep the golf course a little softer because they're in a transition period, while in the fall it's full-blown Bermuda. You can make it as firm and hard as you want, and they really can't do that with the greens right now.”

Leonard went on to say further: “I think the breeze picked up a little bit this afternoon, and the greens dried out a little bit. They didn't really get any firmer, but they got a little faster. So you know, and that's pretty standard for morning versus afternoon.”

Greens can get faster as far as speed of putts but not firmer with respect to holding approach shots.

Bill Haas who finished No. 104 on the 2008 Money List shot 29 on the back-nine (his first nine) in his first appearance at the Valero Texas Open. His father Jay was not able to do that in over 30 years and 797 on the PGA TOUR. Father though has nine PGA Tour wins, including two Texas Opens to date son has zero.

In the second round Goydos continued his outstanding play firing an afternoon 65 but was cautious of his lead position at the midpoint of the tournament.

“I think you still have that same problem I had yesterday, 12-under par is not going to win this tournament, barring some crazy weather that I don't know about, so it's nice to be at 12-under par after two rounds and leading, but the reality is you still need to go out and make birdies

Always the pragmatist Goydos put his play in perspective. “Yesterday, I made a bunch of birdies and bogeyed the last hole. And today I bogeyed the first hole and birdied some (after that). (I had) 25 putts today. When you're under and on pace to break 100 putts, you better play well and that's the situation.”

Leonard shot a 68 in the morning and at the end of the day was tied for second place three strokes back of Goydos. “(I) played pretty solid today. Hit a couple good shots, and had some opportunities, just wasn't able to get the ball in the hole. Had a lot of good putts that looked awfully good with a foot or two left, and just didn't make as many putts, and a couple of good shots was the only difference between yesterday and today."

Zach Johnson opening up his title defense with 68-67 and five strokes back knows the first step is to make the cut which he did. “Yeah. I'm certainly not out of it. I had a couple opportunities I could have probably made more of a push, but today was much like yesterday, a lot of positives, certainly. Maybe a little bit of polishing on the weekend, and hopefully we can make a push.”

J.P. Hayes a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR had the low round of the day shooting a bogey-free 8-under par 62. The El Paso, Texas resident had six birdies and an eagle at the par-five 14th hole.

After Lance Ten Broeck caddied for Jesper Parnevik in the morning round on Monday he was notified that he could take David Berganio Jr.’s spot in the field in the afternoon after he withdrew due to his back.

Ten Broeck could because of his Veteran Member status on TOUR, which is to say that if not otherwise eligible and if needed to fill the field, a player with a minimum of 150 cuts during their career can tee it up.

Ten Broeck’s son caddied for him and he shot a one-over par 71. Ten Broeck shot 70 on Thursday morning and returned to returned to Parnevik’s bag relieving his own son who filled as caddy until Ten Broeck arrived. Ten Broeck finished one-over 141, while Parnevik finished four-over 144. Both missed the cut. Caddie caddies and plays and beats his boss.

Moving Day on Saturday was interrupted by a near five-hour thunderstorm delay. Over two inches of rain fell on the course and the winds switched direction completely.

Dustin Johnson fired a 62 mostly before the rain came. “You know you're playing well, but you know, the biggest thing is not thinking ahead. Just staying with, I'm swinging well, I'm driving it well, you know, and making some putts, so I just gotta stick to my game plan, think about the shot I'm hitting and not birdieing the next three holes in a row."

Defending champion Zach Johnson shot a 60 playing in less than four hours after teeing off after rain delay at 4:25 PM. A gap opened in the clouds allowing enough light to complete the round.

“We were playing twosomes, but just a good rhythm, good tempo for the day, and I putted well. To shoot that you have to putt well. All Saturday is is a day to put yourself in position, and fortunately I did that.”

He tied LaCantera’s all-time 18-hole course record set by Bart Bryant in 2004. He missed a makeable birdie putt on No. 18 for a 59 after recording eight birdies and an eagle in the quick round and finishing up at 15-under after three rounds.

Goydos with six holes left to play after darkness came on Saturday commented on Zack’s 60. “You're out there and it's getting dark and you're not paying that much attention. I didn't realize he shot 60 until we were driving back to the clubhouse.

"That's a pretty impressive round in my opinion. I think the golf course is at least a couple of shots more difficult today than it was the previous two days.”

Sunday morning came and so did the completion of Round Three for 14 players. Goydos posted a 69 to stand at 13-under two stroked behind Zach Johnson as the golfers were repaired into threesomes for the final round. Justin Leonard was another stroke back after a third round 67.

James Driscoll came out of nowhere with a six-birdie one-eagle final round of 62. This week was his first time playing in San Antonio. The marginally exempt player who finished No. 141 last year on the Money List best PGA TOUR finish to date was a playoff loss to Tim Petrovic in the 2005 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

“Today was one of those rounds where everything fell into place. (The) wind changed to out of the north which does not happen often in south Texas. It's mentally hard to adjust.
The wind's almost flip-flopped. A lot of holes are playing much different. Some holes you could drive on Thursday and Friday and now you're hitting seven-iron into it.”

The weather change played to his advantage with the regulars at the Valero Texas Open. “I think having the wind switch like that, I don't think I was at that much of a disadvantage because the course played a lot different.”

“I've always had the belief it was just a matter of time before I had some good weeks. And you know, with hard work and patience things usually turn out well at some point.”

At the start of the day he was eight shots back of Johnson in the lead. “I really didn't even think of it. I mean I gave it maybe two seconds of thought. It's out there every day.

"And I was like, well—literally thought about it for two seconds—if I shoot 62, then maybe I have a chance. I was lucky enough to do it today. You can't really plan on it or think that it's definitely going to happen, but just patience is all it was.”

Paul Goydos finished up his third round 69 early Sunday morning and was paired in the final threesome with defending champion Zach Johnson and three-time Valero Texas Open champion Justin Leonard.

“I'm generally troubled in the morning. Most players have a better scoring average in the morning than the afternoon. I think I'm the other way around. I made a couple of putts, which is nice. I got to play some of the holes with this wind, which again, will help me a little bit this afternoon, too.”

“You got two major champions in the last group. Justin played phenomenally well and nothing good happened. That's probably as high as he could have shot. I probably shot as low as I could have shot. If those two guys are putting good and they play good for a while, they're going to be problematic.”

In the end he was half right with Zach Johnson the 2007 Masters Champion making the playoff and Justin Leonard the 1997 British Open Champion falling short.

As for Johnson’s ability to make the playoff with Driscoll. “He hung in there. That course played tough, he just kind of kept grinding and grinding and grinding and grinding, and he's got himself tied for first.” Goydos’ Sunday 69 dropped him from second place to a T3 finish with Bill Haas who shot 65.

Justin Leonard shot a final round 69 to slide from third place into a T5 finish. “(I) hit the ball well. I just didn't make the putts today. It was fun, fun playing the last group. And had a chance to win. Just a little disappointed I didn't get it done today.”

Zach followed a Saturday 60 with a Sunday 70 good enough for a playoff with Driscoll and an eventual victory.

“I know it's hard to back up a round like that, and I certainly didn't play my best today, but there was times there when I could have gone further south, and I managed to—whether it was a one-two putt or a difficult shot or taking my medicine when I got myself in trouble, you know, I kind of just remained patient and persevered, so you know, I feel very lucky.”

“When you're in contention, all I want to do is trust your numbers and trust your clubs, and I did that. I really didn't show it on my scorecard, but my execution was really, really good, and for that, I'm proud of that.”

“Paul (Goydos) played great, but made a few mistakes on the last couple holes. I'm not sure if I would not have won the tournament per se, but I certainly didn't lose it and just kept myself in the game, and for that I'm proud.”

Johnson remember shooting a Sunday 76 two weeks ago and wasting a two stroke third round lead and finishing T11 at the Quail Hollow Championship.

“It (the loss) was a shock to my system, that Sunday in Charlotte. I mean I was obviously playing good golf, and that Sunday didn't go my way. Yeah, struggling was a good learning lesson. I was a little rushed in Charlotte and today I remained patient and good things happened.”

Johnson has mixed feelings with the venue change from LaCantera to TPC San Antonio next year. “It is bittersweet. Bitter in the sense I like this golf course. I love the character that it presents. Sweet in the sense that I know Valero and I know Tony (not the Tiger that is Exxon…) and Golf San Antonio wants a new chapter, and this town probably deserves it.

"This tournament deserves that and the Texas Open deserves that. We're staging a golf tournament on a venue, but this next venue is supposed to be fantastic. It's supposed to be more fan friendly. (We) can't live in the past. I'm looking forward to the future.”

Driscoll put his playoff loss and second place finish in the proper perspective. “I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but he (Zach Johnson) made a nice birdie. He made a great birdie, so what are you going to do?

"When you get that close to a win and that close to going to Augusta and going to Hawaii for the first tournament of the year, it's a little disappointing.”
  
Zach Johnson with the win joins some elite company that has made successful title defenses in 2009. World No. 1 Tiger Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. World No. 2 Phil Mickelson at the Northern Trust Open.

Zach won the Texas Shootout at the Okay Corral- the Resort Course at LaCantera in San Antonio. Watch out for that gun slinger the rest of the year and certainly come U.S. Open time.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, FL near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.

He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]