Round 4: The Greenbrier Classic
July 31 2011
6:24 pm
Congratulate Stallings on his win
Scott Stallings birdied the first hole of a playoff against Bill Haas and Bob Estes to win The Greenbrier Classic on Sunday. Post your note of congratulations here and we’ll share it with him.
6:07 pm
Stallings wins in playoff
Facing nearly the same putt he had in regulation, Scott Stallings again birdied the par-3 18th hole at The Old White TPC this time for the win.
The victory is the first of Stallings’ career and nets him 500 FedExCup points.
Stallings is the sixth rookie and 10th first-time winner to win on the PGA TOUR this year. With the win, Stallings moves from 88th to 26th in FedExCup points.
After watching Bob Estes and Bill Haas miss their birdie attempts on the 168-yard 18th, Stallings curled in his 7-footer, flipped his putter skyward and then hugged and high-fived his caddie.
Stallings made six birdies on the back nine to make the playoff, where he earned also earned a spot in next week’s World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.
It marked the second straight week that a tournament was won in sudden death. Sean O’Hair beat Kris Blanks on the first playoff hole a week ago at the RBC Canadian Open.
5:58 pm
Playoff play-by-play: Stallings wins
Bob Estes, Bill Haas and Scott Stallings are in a playoff at The Old White TPC, where the first playoff hole will be the par-3 18th, followed by the par-5 17th (if needed) and then back to the 18th (if needed).
18TH HOLE (5:58 p.m.): Bill Haas led off the playoff — and hit a nearly identical shot as he did in regulation with his ball just getting onto the back shelf at the par-3 hole. Haas used 9-iron. Estes, meanwhile, hit an 8-iron inside of Haas hole high maybe 15 feet right of the hole. Stallings was the last to go and he hit almost the same shot he hit in regulation when he made birdie, hitting it just outside 5 feet. All three will now have almost identical putts to what they faced in regulation.
(6:03 p.m.): Haas and Estes each missed their birdie putts, while Stallings, who had a nearly identical putt to what he had in regulation when he made birdie rolled his in for the win.
5:47 pm
Three to start playoff
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. – A year ago, it took a 59 to win The Greenbrier Classic. The excitement has continued on Sunday as Bob Estes, Scott Stallings and Bill Haas embark on a playoff to decide the champion.
The playoff will begin on the par-3 18th, then move to the par-5 17th and back to No. 18, if necessary.
Estes, who has battled wrist injuries and missed the cut in five of his six starts this year, finished at 10 under first. He shot a bogey-free 65 in the final round and rolled in birdie putts of 4 and 15 feet on his last two holes.
Estes is a three-time PGA TOUR winner. His last victory came at the 2002 Kemper Open, which was 223 starts ago.
Haas, who picked up his first two PGA TOUR victories last year, closed with a 67. He bogeyed the 15th hole but came back with a clutch 10-footer for birdie at the 17th hole to tie with Estes.
Stallings was at 10 under, as well, until he hit his tee shot in the hazard at the 17th hole and went on to make bogey. But the rookie came up with a pressure-packed 5-footer for a birdie at the 18th to rejoin the fray.
5:24 pm
De Jonge rallies, but misses chance
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. — Brendon de Jonge called it a "terrible" effort.
He was looking at a birdie putt on the 72nd hole. A mere 5 feet, 7 inches stood between the big man from Zimbabwe and a share of the lead at The Greenbrier Classic.
But de Jonge missed. And another chance at his first PGA TOUR victory disappeared, as well.
"I had it straight up the hill … and barely touched the hole and just had a bad putt," de Jonge said.
Still, the former Virginia Tech standout couldn’t be too disappointed. He held a share of the 36-hole lead, lost it with a frustrating 72 on Saturday but rallied and gave himself a chance on Sunday.
De Jonge bogeyed his first hole of the final round, but made the turn in 31 after closing out the front nine with a string of three straight birdies. He went on to make a 5-footer at the par-5 17th to move to 9 under and within one stroke of Bob Estes, who was waiting in the clubhouse.
And then he missed that birdie putt.
"I didn’t get off to a great start, obviously, bogeying the first but made a couple of birdies around the turn which got me back in the tournament and gave me a chance on the back nine," de Jonge said. "Just didn’t make any putts when I needed to."
Even so, de Jonge, who had two top-10s entering The Greenbrier Classic, continues his love affair with The Old White TPC. He finished solo third a year ago.
"It was fun,” de Jonge said. "It was exciting. Obviously, it would have been nice to make that last one or a couple more coming in, but , no, that was fun."
4:53 pm
Estes shoots 65, grabs lead
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. — Bob Estes is trying to pull a Sean O’Hair Sunday at The Greenbrier Classic.
Estes has just finished off a bogey-free round of 64 that moved him into a tie for first at 10 under with Bill Haas. Minutes later, though, Haas made bogey at the 15th hole and Estes now has the lead alone.
Should Estes win, he would move from 254th in the FedExCup to 82nd. A win would also end a nine-year victory drought for the 45-year-old Texan, who has played sparingly this year after finishing outside the top 125 on the money list for just the second time in his career.
When O’Hair won the RBC Canadian Open last week, he moved from 147th in the FedExCup to 43rd.
Prior to this week, Estes had only played in six PGA TOUR events. He’d only cashed one check – in his first start at the Valero Texas Open back in April.
4:31 pm
Romero posts 9 under
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. — Andres Romero has given the leaders something to ponder after putting the finishing touches on a 65 and posting 9 under.
The 30-year-old from Argentina did the bulk of his scoring on the back nine — the more difficult of the two at The Old White TPC — this weekend. He shot 31 on that segment on Saturday and 32 on Sunday.
Romero, who finished third last week at the RBC Canadian Open, was one stroke off the pace being set by Bill Haas when he finished. He had a chip to tie on the par-3 18th hole but it slid 4 feet by.
Haas still has four holes remaining.
4:30 pm
Haas trying to hold on
Bill Haas is still holding onto the lead on the back nine at The Old White TPC, but it’ a slim lead at one stroke.
The good news for Haas is that Andres Romero I already in at 9 under and Brendon de Jonge and Bob Estes are about to finish their rounds as well. Jimmy Walker, however, is 2 under through 13 holes and also at 9 under just a stroke back.
Four others, including overnight leader Anthony Kim, are on the course at 8 under.
In terms of Haas, he’s played the back nine well. He has just two bogey and both came on Thursday. The last four holes he’s played in a collective 2 under since — now it’s just a matter if he can fend off the challengers for the next hour.
3:30 pm
Simpson has huge turnaround
Things didn’t look very promising for Webb Simpson after the first hole. He pulled his tee shot well to the left and went on to make double bogey. Since then, though, it’s been a different story for the Wake Forest product who’s searching for his first career win in what is his third year on the PGA TOUR.
Simpson just made the turn in 4 under with four birdies in his last five holes and five in all on the front nine at The Old White TPC, where he now shares the top spot at 10 under with Bill Haas.
Anthony Kim, meanwhile, has bogeyed each of his last two holes and is now two shots back after playing the front nine in 2 over.
3:00 pm
Kim still on top — for now
We’re six holes into Anthony Kim’s final round and he’s even par and still leads by two, though Brendon de Jonge has bounced back from his third-round 72 and is now within just two after playing his first dozen holes in 3 under. The problem for de Jonge, however, is that he might run out of holes before he can catch Kim.
Bill Haas, Gary Woodland and Webb Simpson are all two off the pace as well. Though Haas is the only one of those three under par on his round — 1 under through eight holes — Simpson has done a nice job recovering from a rocky start.
Simpson got off to a shaky start with a double bogey on the opening hole, where he pulled his tee shot way left before struggling around the green. He bounced back with a birdie on the next hole but gave right back on No. 4, where after hitting it into trouble left off the tee he had to pitch back to the fairway. But then Simpson bounced back with birdies on Nos. 5 and 6.
One other item of note: The third-rounder leader has held on for the win 18 of 30 times this year, most recently Chris Kirk at the Viking Classic a few weeks ago. That’s good news for Kim of course.
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