Round 4 Notebook: Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

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May. 30, 2010
By John Bush, PGA TOUR Staff

Weather: Sunny and hot early in the day with temperatures reaching 97 degrees. Winds light and variable. The afternoon brought clouds and lightning with play suspended at 4:05 p.m. CT due to dangerous conditions with 11 players remaining on the golf course. Play resumed at 4:52 p.m. CT. Play was again suspended at 5:21 p.m. CT with four players remaining on the course due to dangerous conditions. Play resumed at 6:09 p.m.

• With back-nine birdie putts of 10, 21, 22, 24 and 14 feet on holes 10, 12, 13, 15 and 17, Zach Johnson shot a final-round 64 to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial by three strokes over Brian Davis. Johnson earns 500 points and moves to 14th on the FedExCup standings. Ernie Els maintains his 223 point lead over Jim Furyk in the FedExCup standings. Els has held the FedExCup lead for 10 consecutive weeks.

• With the win, Johnson set the 72-hole tournament record by shooting 65-66-64-64-259 to finish at 21-under-par. The previous tournament record was set by Kenny Perry who shot 261 in both his victories in 2003 and 2005. The four-round score of 259 is also a personal best for Johnson who shot 261 to win the Valero Texas Open in 2008.

• The PGA TOUR record for lowest 72-hole score is 254 by Tommy Armour III (64-62-63-65) at The Resort at La Cantera (par 70) during the 2003 Valero Texas Open (26-under par).

• With the win, Johnson and Phil Mickelson are the only players with victories in each of the last four PGA TOUR seasons (2007-2010).

• Johnson records his seventh PGA TOUR career victory and his third in the state of Texas. Six of Johnson's seven victories have come in either Texas or Georgia, the only exception was his 2009 win at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

• Johnson PGA TOUR victories -- 2004 BellSouth Classic, 2007 The Masters Tournament, AT&T Classic, 2008 Valero Texas Open, 2009 Sony Open in Hawaii, Valero Texas Open, 2010 Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial

• Johnson led the field in greens in regulation hitting 61 of 71 greens (84.7%).

• Johnson came from one-shot behind to start the third round. Sunday was the fourth of his seven TOUR wins that have been in come-from-behind fashion:

Tournament Standing thru 54 Strokes behind thru 54 holes/final round score
2010 Crowne Plaza Invt. at Colonial 3 trailed Molder and Davis by one stroke/64
2008 Valero Texas Open 2 trailed Sabbatini by one stroke/64
2007 AT&T Classic T4 trailed Imada and Matteson by three strokes/67
2007 Masters Tournament T4 trailed Appleby by two strokes/69

• The victory is Johnson's first top-10 finish of the 2010 season, marking the longest it has taken into a season for Johnson to record his first top-10 finish.

• England's Brian Davis shot a final-round 68 and finished runner-up to Johnson by three strokes. It is Davis' second top-10 finish of 2010 and also his second runner-up finish. He finished second at the Verizon Heritage in memorable fashion. After sinking an 18-foot-putt to force a playoff with Jim Furyk, Davis called a penalty on himself on the first playoff hole for a two-stroke penalty, paving the way for Furyk's victory.

• Davis tied for first this week with 25.8 putts per round, in his third start at Colonial (T59/2008, T34/2009, 2/2010).

• Davis was attempting to become the first player from England to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Ben Crane birdied the final hole to finish at 17-under-par for a share of third place for his fifth top-10 finish of the season. He is now tied with Ernie Els and Retief Goosen for the most top-10 finishes on TOUR this year. With the T3 finish, Crane moves into the top 5 in the FedExCup standings.

• Crane also jumps to 8th in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings.

• Crane notched his third PGA TOUR win earlier this year at the Farmers Insurance Open. He now has made the cut in 11 of 13 starts this season and sits No. 8 in the FedExCup standings.

Jeff Overton also finished at 17-under to finish T3. It is Overton's third top-3 finish in his last five events. Overton finished runner-up to Jason Bohn at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and then T2 at last week's HP Byron Nelson Championship. With the recent surge, Overton has jumped from 136th before the start of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to 15th in the FedExCup standings.

Scott Verplank, playing for the 21st time in this event, shot a final-round 5-under-par to finish at 16-under-par and T5. The T5 is his best-ever finish at this event and only his second top-10 finish at Colonial in 21 years.

• At 34 years, 3 months and 6 days of age, Johnson is the first player not in his 20s to win in Texas this year, snapping a three-event streak by players in their 20s:

• 2010 Texas Swing:
-- Anthony Kim (Shell Houston Open -- 24y/9m/16d)
-- Adam Scott (Valero Texas Open -- 29y/9m/0)
-- Jason Day (HP Byron Nelson Championship -- 22y/6m/11d)
-- Zach Johnson (Crown Plaza Invitational -- 34y/3m/6d)

Ricky Barnes shot a final-round 66 to finish at T7. It is Barnes' fourth top-10 finish this season.

Stewart Cink finished at 11-under-par, T22. Cink has now made the cut in all 13 appearances at Colonial which ranks him second in players who have never missed a cut here. Gary Player was a perfect 17 of 17.

• After going his first 10 events of the season without a top-10 finish, Bo Van Pelt finished T10 this week for his fourth top-10 finish in his last five tournaments. The stretch has moved Van Pelt from 62 in the FedExCup rankings to 21st.

• Van Pelt last five events:
T3 Verizon Heritage
5 Quail Hollow Championship
T4 THE PLAYERS Championship
T28 Valero Texas Open
T10 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

• Playing for the 27th time at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, United States Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin finished 15-under (T7) for the tournament. Pavin, who won this event in 1985 and 1996, has played the event every year dating back to his first Crowne Plaza Invitational in 1984. Sunday marked his first top-10 finish here at Colonial Country Club since a T8 in 2001. The T7 finish is Pavin's 8th top-10 finish at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Ben Hogan leads in all-time top 10s at this event with 15.

• The third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win 11 of 22 stroke-play events on TOUR this year, most recently Jason Day at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

• Johnson's victory is the second comeback win in the last nine years at Colonial, but the second consecutive with Steve Stricker coming from behind last year.

• Here's a look at the 54-hole leaders who have gone on to win during that stretch:

Year 54-hole leader Lead Lead over Final Round Finish
2008 Phil Mickelson 1 stroke Pampling/Ames 68 1
2007 Rory Sabbatini Tie Langer/Furyk/Verplank 67 P1
2006 Tim Herron Tie Pampling 68 1
2005 Kenny Perry 7 strokes Stricker/Mayfair 69 1
2004 Steve Flesch Tie Gay/Flesch 67 1
2003 Kenny Perry 8 strokes Rory Sabbatini 68 1
2002 Nick Price 5 strokes Flesch/Perry/Tataurangi 67 1

• Past Colonial winners: Stricker (2009/T38), Phil Mickelson (2000, 2008/MC), Rory Sabbatini (2007/T69), Tim Herron (2006/MC), Kenny Perry (2003, 2005/T22), Steve Flesch (2004/MC) and Corey Pavin (1985, 1996/T7).

• Bogey-free rounds:

Rd. 1 -- J. Overton (63), B. Molder (65), C. Pettersson (65), Z. Johnson (65), J. Daly (66), K. Blanks (65), M. Bradley (67), C. Beckman (67), T. Petrovic (68).

Rd. 2 -- K. Blanks (64), B. Davis (65), B. Weekley (63), J. Mallinger (66), K. Perry (64), R. Barnes (T11), P. Goydos (65), B. de Jonge (T27), C. Collins (66), L. Glover (65), B. Quigley (66).

Rd. 3 -- Brian Davis (65/T1), Zach Johnson (64/3), Lee Janzen (63/T13), Matt Jones (64/T13), Pat Perez (63/T18), Kevin Na (65/T18), Martin Laird (66/T28), Michael Sim (67/T33).

Rd. 4 -- Scott Verplank (65/T5), Geoff Ogilvy (64/T13), Paul Casey (66/T13), Stewart Cink (66/T22), Brian Gay (66/T33), Matt Kuchar (66/T56), Jerod Turner (66/T59).

• Colonial Country Club shows its teeth over the stretch of holes from Nos. 3-5, known as the "Horrible Horseshoe." Cumulatively, they played as the third (No. 3), second (No. 4) and toughest (No. 5) holes.

• Scoring Averages at the par-70 Colonial Country Club:

Round Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative
Thursday 34.207 34.612 68.818 ---
Friday 34.277 34.109 68.387 68.604
Saturday 34.105 33.816 67.921 68.440
Sunday 34.066 34.895 68.961 68.541
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