Nissan Open: Final-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff LOS ANGELES -- With his victory, Charles Howell III earns 4,500 FedExCup points and jumps into the top spot in the FedExCup standings with 9,652 points through seven events, currently 2,315 points ahead of Phil Mickelson. He holds the top spot for the second time this season and is one of three players to do so, with Vijay Singh and John Rollins the others.  Charles Howell III called his victory the biggest moment of his career to date. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
• Charles Howell III (27) becomes just the fifth of the last 18 Nissan Open winners (dating back to 1990) to win the tournament before turning 30. The others were 1999 champion Ernie Els (29), 2001 winner Robert Allenby (29), 2005 champion Adam Scott (24) and Rory Sabbatini (29). • Charles Howell III's victory -- the second of his career -- is his 16th top-3 finish since joining the PGA TOUR in 2000. He improves to 1-2 in playoffs, having lost earlier at the 2001 Greater Milwaukee Open and the 2003 Nissan Open. • The three-hole playoff was the longest at the Nissan Open since Tom Watson defeated Johnny Miller in the same number of holes in 1982. • There have now been 16 playoffs at the Nissan Open, including four in the last seven years. Robert Allenby won a six-man playoff in 2001; Mike Weir defeated Charles Howell III, surging back from seven shots down, in 2003; Adam Scott defeated Chad Campbell in the 36-hole, weather-shortened event in 2005. • Phil Mickelson falls to 7-2 during his career in playoffs, with his only losses coming to Jesper Parnevik at the 2000 Byron Nelson Classic and Charles Howell III this week. He had won seven straight prior to Sunday's loss. • Jim Furyk was the only player to move into the top 10 in the FedExCup standings this week, moving from No. 16 to No. 10. • The 54-hole leader has won just two of the first seven tournaments this season, including Vijay Singh's win in Kapalua and Phil Mickelson's victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. • With a 6-under 65, Charles Howell III has now posted 17 of 22 rounds at par or better at the Nissan Open. His victory represented his third top-10 finish of his career in six starts at the Nissan Open, to go along with a runner-up finish in 2003 and a T6 effort in 2002. • Pat Perez (65) managed the only bogey-free round on Sunday, bringing the total this week to seven. • David Toms saw his PGA TOUR-leading par-or-better streak snapped at 14 rounds with a 2-over 73 on Sunday. The current best streak is held by Aaron Baddeley with 12 in a row. • Prior to this year's tournament, there have been only five players able to record four rounds in the 60s at Riviera Country Club during the last 11 years. That number was doubled this week, with five players posting four sub-70 rounds. • With that in mind, who has put together four rounds (or five in some cases) in the 60s in the same event the most over the last five years? Phil Mickelson was the only player to put together four rounds in the 60s this week at the Nissan Open. With Charles Howell's win on Sunday, the hunt for the 200th TOUR victory by a former Nationwide Tour player will have to wait another week. While not winning, Jeff Quinney (T9) managed the top finish by a member of the 2006 graduating class, giving the group 10 top-10 finishes this year. • Speaking of Quinney, he is currently tied with Robert Allenby (T3) for the most top-10 finishes this season on the PGA TOUR. Allenby has finished inside the top 10 in all four of his starts in 2007, while Quinney has four straight top-10 finishes after opening the season with a 71st place finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii. • Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk were the only players to post back-to-back top-10 finishes at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the Nissan Open. • Anthony Kim, a 21-year-old native of Los Angeles, Calif., recorded the round of the day with a career-low 7-under 64 to jump 37 spots to T9. It marked the second career top-10 finish (T2 - 2006 Valero Texas Open) for the TOUR's youngest rookie. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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