Planet Golf — 24 May 2013 by GW staff and news services
Weekley ends five-year win drought

FORT WORTH, Texas — Boo Weekley ended a five-year drought on the PGA Tour, claiming the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial by one shot.

It’s Weekley’s third win on Tour. His first two came at the RBC Heritage in 2007 and 2008. In all three wins, he has received a tartan jacket as one of his prizes. He’ll also get his name on the Wall of Champions on the first tee.

“It’s unreal,” Weekley said. “Finally, I get to have my name up there. It don’t get better than that.”

Weekley shot his second consecutive 4-under 66 to finish at 14 under. Matt Kuchar, the leader in the previous two rounds, finished second after birdieing his last hole for a 68.

Weekley moves to sixth in the FedExCup standings, while Kuchar moved from fifth to third.

Weekley had shown flashes of returning to the kind of player who twice at Hilton Head. He entered this week with three top-10s this year but was coming off just his second missed cut of the year at last week’s HP Byron Nelson Championship.

But on a shot-maker’s course such as Colonial, Weekley thrived. He hit 71.4 percent of his fairways and 75 percent of his greens, ranking inside the top 10 in the field in both categories.

He birdied two of his first three holes, but dropped strokes at the fifth and seventh. At that point, he was 10 under and bunched together with several other contenders.

He bounced back with birdies at the eighth and ninth holes, then separated himself from the pack on the back nine.

His third consecutive birdie, at the par-4 10th from 9 feet, moved him to 13 under and giving him a two-shot lead. He also rolled in a 21-1/2 foot putt at the 13th to maintain it.

Weekley had several chances to increase the lead the rest of the way, his irons setting up birdie opportunities at the 14th and 17th holes from 4 feet. He couldn’t convert but it didn’t matter.

Kuchar shot a 2-under 68 but couldn’t get anything going most of the day. He played the back nine in a bogey-free 2 under, though — Kuchar did not make a birdie on the back nine all week.

Defending champion Zach Johnson shot a 66 to finish solo third at 12 under.

“I played solid,” Johnson said. “What I did today was I gave myself a number of opportunities. It seems like almost every other hole I had a really good birdie look. I left some out there, but I also made some putts, so it probably all evens out.”

Scott Stallings, John Rollins and Matt Every tied for fourth at 11 under.

Stallings had been leading by one shot until he double bogeyed the 15th. Weekley took the lead at that point, and was able to keep it for the final two hours.

Jordan Spieth, the 19-year-old from Dallas, tied for seventh at 10 under with Josh Teater, Tim Clark and Chris Stroud.

“I’m extremely pleased with my round,” Spieth said after shooting 67. “And you know, I could have very well won this golf tournament.”

Leaderboard: Boo Weekley 67-67-66-66—266 (-14); Matt Kuchar 65-65-69-68—267 (-13); Zach Johnson 69-65-68-66—268 (-12); Scott Stallings  69-65-69-66—269 (-11); John Rollins 63-71-67-68—269 (-11); Matt Every  65-69-66-69—269 (-11).

Boo Weekley

— Weekley carded a final-round 4-under 66 for a one-stroke victory over third-round leader Matt Kuchar and two-shot win over defending champion Zach Johnson at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

— Weekley’s third PGA Tour victory comes in his 189th start at the age of 39 years, 10 months and three days. Sunday’s win came in his 124th start since his last victory in 2008.

— Weekley’s victory on Sunday, as well as his wins at the 2007 and 2008 RBC Heritage, earned him a plaid jacket.

— Weekley becomes the first champion at Colonial with four rounds in the 60s since Zach Johnson in 2010.

— With the victory, Weekley earns 500 points and moves from No. 28 to No. 6 in the FedExCup standings. He extends his PGA Tour membership through the 2014-15 season.

— Weekley becomes the fifth-consecutive come-from-behind winner of the Colonial, and the sixth since 2001. He joins Sergio Garcia (2001), Steve Stricker (2009), Zach Johnson (2010), David Toms (2011) and Zach Johnson (2012).

— Weekley’s victory is his fourth top-10 finish of the season, just one shy of his career-best five top 10s in 2007 and 2008. He has made 13 of 15 cuts this season, one year after making the same number in 25 starts.

— Weekley is looking to get back to the Tour Championship for the first time since the FedExCup Playoffs started in 2007. He finished a career-best 25th in the standings that year.

— Weekley becomes the 10th player (13 wins) in his 30s to win this season, compared to seven winners in their 20s and two in their 40s.

— Weekley played Colonial Country Club’s “Horrible Horseshoe” in even-par this week. He was 2-under on No. 3, 1-over on No. 4 and 1-over on No. 5.

— Weekley made seven putts over 20 feet in length this week, equaling his career-best mark at the 2010 Zurich Classic of New Orleans (7). On Sunday, his longest putt made was 21’5” on No. 13.

— The win is the 21st top-10 finish and 48th  top-25 finish of Weekley’s career.

— Weekley’s win is the 355th on the PGA Tour by an alumnus of the Web.com Tour.

Matt Kuchar

— The runner-up finish is the sixth of Kuchar’s career and first since The Barclays in 2011.

— Kuchar is one for two when holding the third-round lead/co-lead, winning the 2009 Turning Stone Resort Championship. He is the fifth-consecutive third-round leader at the Colonial to come away without a victory.

— Kuchar was seeking his sixth PGA Tour victory: 2002 Honda Classic, 2009 Turning Stone Resort Championship, 2010 The Barclays, 2012 The Players Championship, 2013 World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

— Kuchar has never missed a cut in seven starts at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (T36-2007, 9-2008, T27-2009, T56-2010, T16-2011, T26-2012, 2nd-2013).

Zach Johnson

— Johnson finished solo-third in his effort to join Ben Hogan as the only players to win back-to-back Colonials, with Hogan performing the feat twice (1946-47 and 1952-53).

— A year ago, Johnson’s final-round 2-over 72 snapped a streak of 15 consecutive rounds in the 60s at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, dating to a first-round 69 in 2009. He began a new streak this year with all four rounds in the 60s. In all, he owns 25 rounds in the 60s out of 32 overall at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

— Johnson has five-consecutive top-10 finishes and has never finished outside of the top 30 in eight starts at the Colonial: 2013/3rd, 2012/1st, 2011/4th, 2010/1st, 2009/T9, 2006/T30, 2005/T26, 2004/T14.

— Johnson is one of 12 multiple winners of the Colonial. The complete list includes five-time winner Ben Hogan and two-time winners Billy Casper, Julius Boros, Al Geiberger, Ben Crenshaw, Bruce Lietzke, Lee Trevino, Corey Pavin, Nick Price, Kenny Perry, Phil Mickelson and Johnson.

Tournament Notes:

 

— Local favorite Jordan Spieth finished T7 in his first start at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. The last player to win the event in his first start at Colonial was Sergio Garcia in 2001.

— Web.com Tour and Colonial Country Club member Franklin Corpening posted the round of the day with an 8-under 62, jumping from T62 to T14. By comparison, the Colonial CC course record is 61, set by Chad Campbell (2004), Justin Leonard (2003), Kenny Perry (2003), Greg Kraft (1999), Keith Clearwater (1993) and Lee Janzen (1993).

— Scott Stallings had a 29 on the front nine at Colonial Country Club en route to a 4-under 66 and T4 finish, falling one shy of Wayne Levi’s 28 on that nine in 1993. Stallings posted all four rounds in the 60s this week. His first two starts at Colonial resulted in missed cuts in 2011 (76-73) and 2012 (72-75).

— Bobby Gates had a hole-in-one (his first on the PGA Tour) on the par-3 13th hole with a 6-iron from 194 yards. It is the 29th ace in the 66-year history of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

— Sang-Moon Bae finished T76 in his bid to become just the second player to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and HP Byron Nelson Championship in the same year (Ben Hogan/1946).

— Chris Stroud, a resident of Groves, Texas, finished T7 for his second top 10 of the season (T6 at RBC Heritage). He was seeking to become the Tour’s ninth first-time winner on Tour this season (Russell Henley, John Merrick, Michael Thompson, Scott Brown, Kevin Streelman, Billy Horschel, Derek Ernst, Sang-Moon Bae). Stroud earned a career-best fourth-place finish at the 2011 OHL Golf Classic at Mayakoba.

— Making his first start since a runner-up finish at The Players Championship, David Lingmerth turned in a bogey-free 65 on Sunday to finish T18.

— In the 66 playings of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, the third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to claim victory 35 times.

— The third-round leader/co-leader has won 10 of 20 stroke-play events in 2013, most recently Tiger Woods at The Players Championship.

— John Huh came the closest to posting top-10 finishes at both the HP Byron Nelson Championship and Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. The Dallas, Texas resident followed up a T8 finish last week with a T11 finish at Colonial.

— Three former Augusta State University golf standouts made the cut on the number this week. Here’s their finish: Vaughn Taylor (T70), Patrick Reed (T46) and Henrik Norlander (T73). The latter two players helped lead the Jaguars to back-to-back NCAA Division I National Championships (2010 and 2011) and were coached by current SMU men’s golf coach Josh Gregory.

— Eight past champions are competing this week: Zach Johnson (3rd), Steve Flesch (T22), Tim Herron (T65), Corey Pavin (MC), Tom Lehman (MC), Keith Clearwater (MC), Rory Sabbatini (MC), David Toms (MC).

— The top 60 players in the Official World Golf Ranking through the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial are eligible for the U.S. Open.

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