Zurich Classic of New Orleans: Final-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff AVONDALE, La. -- Nick Watney's win in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans marks the 203rd PGA TOUR victory by a former Nationwide Tour player and the seventh this year. The 2007 season began with a total of 196 total wins by former Nationwide Tour players.  Traditional Mardi Gras beads joined the trophy as part of Nick Watney's victory haul. (Mike Ehrmann/WireImage)
• Along with Watney, the list includes Paul Goydos (Sony Open in Hawaii), Charley Hoffman (Bob Hope Chrysler Classic), Aaron Baddeley (FBR Open), Mark Wilson (The Honda Classic), Zach Johnson (The Masters Tournament) and Boo Weekley (Verizon Heritage). • Nick Watney's win marks the third straight week a former Nationwide Tour player has registered a win on the PGA TOUR. Watney joins Zach Johnson (The Masters) and Boo Weekley (Verizon Heritage) as the most recent winners. In 2006, former Nationwide Tour players accumulated 21 PGA TOUR titles and enjoyed a stretch of seven consecutive weeks with a win. Interestingly, Chris Couch's win in at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in 2006 was the third in a row and Watney's win today is also the third in a row. • Nick Watney becomes the third-youngest champion of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Watney is 25 years, 11 months and 28 days old -- he turns 26 on Wednesday. Lee Westwood, at 23 years, 11 months and 11 days, was the tournament's youngest champion in 1998. Larry Hinson, the 1969 champion, was the second youngest at 25 years, 8 months and 29 days. • Nick Watney became the first Zurich Classic of New Orleans winner to post all four rounds in the 60s (69-67-68-69) since Carlos Franco turned the trick in 2000 when he posted scores of 67-67-68-68. Watney is the first player to post all four rounds in the 60s at the TPC Louisiana course. • Nick Watney's previous best finishes on the PGA TOUR came last year when he tied for fifth twice, at the Reno Tahoe Open and the FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort. • Sunday's pivotal hole turned out to be the 217-yard, par-3 14th hole. Nick Watney and Ken Duke were tied atop the board at 14 under par at the time. Watney rolled in a birdie putt of 7 feet, 8 inches to get to 15 under while Duke pulled his tee shot left and missed his par putt of 6 feet, 7 inches to drop back to 13 under. • Ken Duke's second-place finish this week is a career best (51 career starts). Duke's previous best finishes on the PGA TOUR was a T9 at the 2004 Reno-Tahoe Open and a T10 at last week's Verizon Heritage. Duke picked up 2,700 FedExCup points and jumped from No. 117 to No. 34 in the season-long points race. • Ken Duke's weekend total of 136 (66-70) matched the best final-36 hole total of his career. Duke also posted a 136 (70-66) at the 1996 Greater Vancouver Open, the first PGA TOUR start of Duke's career. • Ken Duke's 12-under-par score marks the second-best under-par effort for his PGA TOUR career. Duke's all-time best is 14 under at the 2004 HP Classic of New Orleans. • Rookie Chris Stroud was 0-for-5 in cuts made this year and just one for seven for his career, but he put together rounds of 68-70-71-69-278 and wound up tied for fifth. The former Lamar University star earns 913 FedExCup points and collects a check for $222,650. The only other cut Stroud had made was in his first TOUR start, the 2004 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro (T57). • Rookie Anthony Kim fired a final-round 65 to finish at 11-under-par 277 and tied for third. After making only one cut in his first four starts, Kim has now made six consecutive cuts with three top-10 finishes. Kim's last six finishes, starting at the Nissan Open, are -- T9, T46, T14, T5, T36 and T3 this week. The TOUR's youngest current member jumped from No. 53 to No. 33 in the FedExCup points list. He also collected $353,800 this week and moved from No. 56 to No. 36 on the money list. • Lucas Glover birdied the final hole Sunday to finish at 7-under 279 and wound up tied for eighth. Glover missed the cut in his first appearance in this event in 2004 but has finished T3, T7 and T8 the past three years. • Alex Cejka (68-279) tied for eighth this week, his first top-10 finish of the year in seven starts. Cejka had finished T30 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and T42 at the Shell Houston Open. This is his best finish on the PGA TOUR since he tied for third at the 2006 John Deere Classic. In three previous starts in this event, Cejka missed the cut once (2003) and withdrew twice (2004, 2006). • Matthias Gronberg (67-280) tied for 11th this week, his best finish of the year in 11 starts. Gronberg had missed three consecutive cuts prior to this week and had only one top-25 (T22, The Honda Classic) on his 2007 resume. This is Gronberg's best PGA TOUR finish since a fourth at the 2006 Shell Houston Open.
• Rookie John Mallinger (67-277) tied for third this week, his second top-3 finish in 2007 (third at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am). Mallinger had missed the cut in four of his last six starts prior to this week. The 2002 Long Beach State grad earned $353,800 and jumped from No. 65 to No. 40 on the season money list with $774,751. Mallinger also moved from No. 63 to No. 40 on the FedExCup points list. • Matt Kuchar registered the 11th hole-in-one on the 2007 PGA TOUR season Sunday. Kuchar used a 6-iron to ace the 190-yard sixth hole. Last year at English Turn GC, there were three aces -- Hunter Mahan and Cody Freeman in round one; Scott Verplank in round two. • Daniel Chopra also made an ace on Sunday. Chopra used a 5-iron on the 193-yard 17th hole. Darron Stiles made a hole-in-one (7-iron) on that same hole two years ago during third-round play. • Two players were bogey-free on Sunday, Bob Estes (69) and Ryan Armour (70). The best rounds of Sunday came from Anthony Kim (65) and Mathias Gronberg, Lee Janzen, John Mallinger and Steve Stricker (all 67s). • The toughest hole this week was the 480-yard, par-4 15th. The hole had a four-day scoring average of 4.244. • Nick Watney becomes the 16th player to win his first PGA TOUR event at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He is the fifth first-time winner in the last six years. First-time winners include Bill Collins (1959), Bo Wininger (1962), Larry Hinson (1969), Jim Simons (1977), Lon Hinkle (1978), Bob Eastwood (1984), Ian Woosnam (1991), Mike Standly (1993), Scott McCarron (1996), Lee Westwood (1998), Carlos Franco (1999), K.J. Choi (2002), Steve Flesch (2003), Tim Petrovic (2005) and Chris Couch (2006). • Watney collects $1,098,000 first-place check, the largest of his career, which brings season earnings on the PGA TOUR to $1,403, 618, ranked 13th. He becomes the 24th player to surpass $1 million in season earnings in 2007, and surpasses the $3 million mark in career earnings on the PGA TOUR, with $3,326,059 total. • Watney is the fifth first-time winner on the PGA TOUR in 2007, following Boo Weekley (Verizon Heritage), Mark Wilson (The Honda Classic), Henrik Stenson (World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship) and Charley Hoffman (Bob Hope Chrysler Classic). Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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