In 10 previous starts, Rory Sabbatini’s career-best finish at the HP Byron Nelson Championship was a T3 in 2007, the only time he had finished in the top 10.
Rory Sabbatini becomes the 14th player to win both the HP Byron Nelson Championship and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial during their career. Others who have completed the “DFW Double” are Ben Crenshaw, Roberto De Vicenzo, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Bruce Devlin, Jack Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Watson, Bruce Lietzke, Nick Price, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Julius Boros.
Dating back to 2000, Rory Sabbatini is the sixth International winner of the HP Byron Nelson Championship.
Dating back to 1995, Rory Sabbatini is the 11th champion to post all four rounds in the 60s.
Rory Sabbatini becomes the 12th player in his 30s to win on the PGA TOUR this year, the 15th overall by those 12 players.
16 of 21 third-round leaders/co-leaders (76%) have gone on to win on the PGA TOUR this year. Last year the figure was 22 of 46 (48%).
Rory Sabbatini’s 6-under 64 was the lowest final-round score by a winner at the HP Byron Nelson Championship since Peter Thompson’s 63 in 1956.
Rory Sabbatini’s statistics for the week: T28 in Fairways Hit (34/56-60.7 %), T1 in Putts per Round (25.8) and T38 in Greens in Regulation (49/72-68.1 %).
Brian Davis equaled his career-best PGA TOUR result and has now posted runner-up finishes in each of the last three years.
- 2007 St. Jude Championship
- 2008 Legends Reno-Tahoe Open
- 2009 HP Byron Nelson Championship
Brian Davis now has three consecutive top-5 finishes after a pair of T5 finishes at THE PLAYERS Championship and the Valero Texas Open.
Brian Davis has now posted eight consecutive rounds in the 60s.
Brian Davis has the longest active streak of 20 consecutive rounds of par or better on the PGA TOUR. During that stretch he has finished T19 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, T38 at the Quail Hollow Championship, T5 at both THE PLAYERS Championship and Valero Texas Open, and 2nd at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.
Zach Johnson, who didn’t play this week, remains at the top of the FedExCup standings. Rory Sabbatini moved from No. 29 to No. 7 with his win. Brian Davis jumped from No. 51 to No. 21 with his second-place finish.
D.A. Points earned his career-best PGA TOUR finish with his third-place effort. Points’ previous best were back-to-back T9 finishes earlier this year at The Honda Classic and the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular.
Scott McCarron birdied three of the four par-3 holes in a nine-birdie, one-bogey, final-round 8-under 62, the low round of the tournament. McCarron’s career low round is 61 (1999 Air Canada Championship/Round 4).
Scott McCarron’s 8-under 62 tied the low final-round in tournament history with Steve Lowery (1995) and Ted Tryba (2001).
Scott McCarron ranked No. 1 in both fairways hit (76.8%) and greens in regulation (81.9%) for the week but was T46 in putts per round (29.2).
Dustin Johnson appears set to stay in the top 50 on the OWGR after beginning the week ranked No. 48. This means Brian Gay (12), Charley Hoffman (14) and Charles Howell III (15) will be exempt into the 2009 British Open as the leading three (inside the top-20) off the FedExCup standings.
John Mallinger earned his best finish at the HP Byron Nelson Championship with a sixth place showing in his third start here. After missing the cut in 2007, Mallinger finished T31 in 2008.
After making seven bogeys in his first 23 holes this week, John Senden, who finished seventh, posted just one bogey (No. 10/Round 4) over his last 49 holes.
1987 HP Byron Nelson Championship winner and 2009 President’s Cup U.S. team captain Fred Couples (69-66-67-67—269) earned his third top-10 finish (T8) this season. Couples will turn 50 and become eligible for the Champions Tour in early October, but continues to show he still belongs on the PGA TOUR. Now No. 61 (up from 76) on the FedExCup points list, Couples posted season-best T3 efforts at the Northern Trust Open and the Shell Houston Open.
Jeff Maggert, a Houston, TX resident, earned his second top-10 of the season (FBR Open) despite a double-bogey at the final hole. Maggert shot 71-66-65-67—269 to finish T8.
Despite a double-bogey at the final hole, where he three-putted from five feet, New Zealand’s Danny Lee (69-67-69-66—271) posted his career-best finish (T13) on the PGA TOUR. Lee’s previous best finish was T20 at the 2008 Wyndham Championship, as an amateur, where he also shot four rounds in the 60s.
This was Lee’s third start as a professional. He finished T38 at the Quail Hollow Championship after missing the cut in his first start as a professional at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
This was Danny Lee’s first event with Don Donatello as his caddie after Anthony Knight, Lee’s former caddie returned to New Zealand. Donatello previously caddied for Eric Axley and Kevin Na.
Twelve players recorded all four rounds in the 60s this week. Consider this - Alex Cejka, who led after three rounds at THE PLAYERS Championship, shot 69-69-67-68—273 and finished T23.
It looks like donations from the public topped out at $4,000 in the “Beem Fore Behm” charity initiative. Rich Beem donated $100 per birdie he made this week and also encouraged fellow players, and the public, to donate to the fund established to benefit Rich Behm, who was paralyzed from the waist down when the Cowboys practice facility was destroyed in a storm earlier this month. The figure will almost certainly be higher when players’ contributions are calculated next week. There will be a “Beem Fore Behm” donation tent near the main entrance at next week’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
Charley Hoffman (T23) didn’t manage to earn his fourth top-10 finish of the year but did extend his consecutive cuts-made streak to 22. He is now 13 for 13 this season. His last missed cut was in July at the 2008 John Deere Classic. It’s the second-longest current streak on TOUR, behind Tiger Woods (35).
Mark Calcavecchia shot 6-under 64, an improvement of 11 shots from his third-round 75, to equal his low round this season (64/Round 3/Northern Trust Open) and finish T52.
Dallas, TX native and resident Matt Weibring finished T52 after rounds of 67-69-71-70—277. His only previous start at the tournament was a missed cut in 2005 (73-71). Weibring’s Dad, D.A., spearheaded the $10 million redesign of the TPC Four Seasons prior to the 2008 tournament. The elder Weibring played in the tournament 22 times, with runner-up finishes in 1993 and 1995.
Matt Weibring was one of 10 2008 Nationwide Tour graduates to earn a check this week. Here’s a look at how they finished.
- 3. Jeff Klauk T45 -4
- 6. Colt Knost T52 -3
- 10. Greg Owen T35 -6
- 13. Kris Blanks T39 -5
- 14. David Mathis T39 -5
- 16. D.A. Points 3 -16
- 19. Marc Leishman T8 -11
- 23. Bryce Molder T23 -7
- 24. Matt Weibring T52 -3
- 25. Ricky Barnes T60 -2
Greg Chalmers drove the green at the 323-yard, par-4 11th hole and knocked in the remaining 21-foot putt for an eagle 2. It was the only eagle at the 11th hole all week.
Jimmy Walker shot 6-under 29 on the front nine after birdies at Nos. 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9. He added another birdie at the 10th hole before bogeys at 11 and 12. Walker finished with 65 and T23.
Here’s how the remaining past champions of the HP Byron Nelson Championship fared this week:
- 2005 winner Ted Purdy 74-65-66-68—273 T23
- 2003 winner Vijay Singh 70-67-69-66—272 T16
- 2000 winner Jesper Parnevik 67-68-69-75—279 T65
- 1987 winner Fred Couples 69-66-67-67—269 T8
Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative
Thursday 35.381 35.858 70.858 ---
Friday 34.773 34.857 69.630 70.246
Saturday 34.068 34.081 68.149 69.841
Sunday 34.770 34.108 68.878 69.685
Mark Williams -HPBNC-
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