Brian Harman dealt with the wind and the chilliness Sunday with a pair of key birdies on the again 9 Sunday within the Valero Texas Open, closing with a 3-over 75 for a three-shot victory, his first title for the reason that 2023 British Open.
Harman started the ultimate spherical with a three-shot lead, and it quickly turned a good battle with Andrew Novak, who was going for his first PGA Tour victory and a spot within the Masters.
Harman by no means misplaced the lead, although it dropped to 1 shot with a bogey on No. 6 and a double bogey on the ninth gap when he needed to take a penalty drop after a pulled tee shot and nonetheless might solely advance it to the green.
However he holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the twelfth gap to offer him some respiratory room, and he received up-and-down from a bunker on the par-5 14th and his lead was again to 3 photographs.
He adopted that with a pair of bogeys, however left the errors on the finish to Novak.
“Simply so pleased with how I dealt with these situations,” Harman mentioned. “This golf course gave me all I wished immediately and comfortable to come back out on prime.”
Novak, two photographs behind with two to play, bogeyed the seventeenth with a foul chip and the par-5 18th with a foul drive. He shot 76 and fell right into a tie for third with Maverick McNealy (72).
Ryan Gerard made his solely bogey on the ultimate gap for a 69 to complete runner-up. It was one in every of solely seven rounds underneath par on the TPC San Antonio.
Harman was nonetheless underneath stress with two holes to play, particularly coming off back-to-back bogeys. His tee photographs bounced by the bunker and into the tough, and he pitched to about 12 ft for a stress-free par.
Novak drove over the inexperienced, however his pitch up the shelf hit the slope and rolled again to his ft. His birdie chip ran 6 ft by, and he missed the putt to fall three behind.
On the 18th, Novak pulled his tee shot within the barren space of bushes and scrub brush. He pitched again to the green, tried to achieve the inexperienced and narrowly went into the creek. He needed to stand on a boulder to play onto the inexperienced, and he missed the 10-foot par putt.
Patrick Fishburn had an eagle-birdie end for a 68 and was half of a giant group that tied for fifth. The eagle got here on the seventeenth gap, the place Fishburn holed a 105-foot putt. It was the longest putt anybody made on the PGA Tour since 2008.
Harman had been struggling since his main breakthrough at Hoylake and was on the verge of falling out of the highest 50. Now he heads to the Masters with a much-needed win.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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