Round 4 - Kevin Kisner clinches second PGA Tour title

May 29, 2017

Kevin Kisner finally broke through on Sunday for his first victory since 2015, holding off a strong field at the PGA Tour's Colonial with a closing round of four-under 66.

Kisner second career victory contrasted sharply with his first at the 2015 RSM Classic which he won by a whopping six shots.

He finished 72 holes at 10-under 270 just one stroke ahead defending champion Jordan Spieth, Spaniard Jon Rahm and American Sean O'Hair.

"I am just honored be the champion and to be able to come back every year see my name on the champions wall will be something special," Kisner said. "I am happy to win any tournament but especially here."

Spieth shot one of the best scores of the day, a bogey-free five-under 65, while O'Hair and Rahm both shot 66 to finish in a three-way tie for second.

Second- and third-round leader Webb Simpson (71) bogeyed the 18th hole to finish alone in fifth and Danny Lee of New Zealand (70) ended up three shots adrift and alone in sixth place.

The overcast and humid conditions in the fourth round at the Colonial Country Club course were the most conducive all week to low scores.

Kisner, runner up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this year, birdied the 10th hole and the 11th to tie Simpson for the top spot and took the lead outright with a birdie on the par-four 12th.

He then rolled in a birdie at No. 15 to extend his lead to two shots. That was halved by a bogey on the 16th hole, but his up and down for par at the 18th green clinched the win.

Two-time major winner Spieth was pleased with his performance this week after coming off two consecutive missed cuts, the first time that has happened in two years.

This was his fourth start in the tournament as he also tied for second two years ago.

After birdies on the par-four 10th and the par-four 15th, Spieth was able to put some pressure on the leaders.

"Today was a fun round," said Texas native Spieth. "I felt those (competitive) nerves and I was just a couple of lipouts away from having a chance."

Tour rookie Rahm, who graduated from Arizona State University only a year ago and has already risen to No. 12 in the world, was making his Colonial debut.

He finished with five birdies and just one bogey on Sunday.

Steve Stricker (63), Brian Harman (65) and Scott Piercy (68) finished tied for seventh four shots behind Kisner.

Round 3 - Webb Simpson moves two ahead

May 28, 2017

Webb Simpson felt almost as if he had just played a round in a major after a steamy Saturday at Colonial.

For the 2012 U.S. Open champion, and pretty much everyone else at Hogan's Alley, it was a mentally draining day at the traditional tree-lined course where temperatures were in the upper 90s, with a heat index of 108 degrees and wind gusting to 25 mph.

''There is so much thinking involved on every shot,'' Simpson said.

Even so, Simpson shot a 3-under 67 to break out of a crowd and take the third-round lead.

At 9-under 201, Simpson was two strokes ahead of Paul Casey (68) and Danny Lee (69) after both of them made long birdie putts at the 18th hole. Stewart Cink (66) and Kevin Kisner (70) were three strokes off the lead.

''It was a good grind day,'' Lee said. ''It's tough out there with the wind blowing sideways.''

Defending champion Jordan Spieth shot 68 to get to 4 under, even with caddie Michael Greller leaving the course after 11 holes because of heat exhaustion.

Part of a four-way tie for the 36-hole lead, Simpson went ahead alone to stay after consecutive birdies to start his back nine. He made a 6-foot birdie putt at the 387-yard 10th and a 12-footer at the 630-yard 11th before finishing with seven consecutive pars.

It is on the second time in 12 years for the 54-hole leader at Colonial to have more than a one-stroke advantage.

Simpson leads after three rounds for the fifth time in his career, and first since the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in October 2013 that was also the last of his four PGA Tour victories. He lost in a playoff to Hideki Matsuyama at Phoenix in February.

''Definitely feel like (the season has) ebbed and flowed,'' he said. ''I feel like that's starting to happen more, where I'm part of the conversation of contending. That's a good feeling. I know what I'm doing is working.''

Playing in the final group, Simpson birdied the first two holes Saturday. He gave one of those back with a bogey at the par-3, 192-yard eighth after missing the green with his tee shot. His only other birdies were at Nos. 10 and 11.

Spieth said it was ''a no-brainer situation'' to make a caddie switch because Greller felt so bad. Greller told Spieth that he'd be ready for Sunday's final round.

Damon Goddard, the personal trainer for both the player and the caddie, carried the bag the last seven holes. Spieth had a bogey at the 14th and two birdies down the stretch.

''He's caddied for me before. Michael was really sick in Houston in 2014. Damon caddied the first round. We went bogey-free, 2 under,'' Spieth said. ''I let Damon down today. I made my first bogey with him on the bag by three-putting.''

Lee and Kisner also were tied for the second-round lead, along with Scott Piercy, whose shot 72 to fall five strokes back.

After three birdies and three bogeys his first eight holes Saturday, Lee had a steady stream of pars until finishing with a 16-foot birdie.

''I really needed that to have a good momentum starting tomorrow,'' Lee said. ''It was a good grind out there. It's not easy out there when wind is blowing sideways every hole. It's very hard for me to commit every shot.''

Casey made a nearly 25-foot birdie putt that had just enough speed to fall into the cup at No. 18. He was 1 over for the day without a birdie until starting his back nine with three birdies in a four-hole stretch that included a bogey.

''I had missed a lot of good looks for birdies and opportunities, although I'm not complaining,'' Casey said. ''Happy I shot under par.''

Piercy was still within a stroke of the lead at 8 under after a par-saving 13-foot putt at the 12th hole after driving into the rough and hitting his approach in a greenside bunker there. But he promptly hit his tee shot at the par-3 13th into the pond on way to a double-bogey, and couldn't avoid bogeys after wayward drives and going into greenside bunkers at No. 15 and 18.

Round 2 - Crowded leaderboard at Colonial

May 27, 2017

New Zealand's Danny Lee and red-hot Kevin Kisner were in a four-way tie for the lead halfway through the PGA Tour's Colonial as an already crowded leaderboard got more congested on Friday.

Lee fired a six-under 64 and American Kisner shot his second straight 67 to move into a tie with Webb Simpson (66) and Scott Piercy (66) for a one-shot lead at six-under 134.

But there is no time to relax as a strong field that includes several major winners is nipping at their heels.

Windy conditions helped create the logjam at the top with 21 players within five shots of the leaders after the first two rounds at the Colonial Country Club course in Fort Worth, Texas.

Reigning Masters champion Sergio Garcia (66) and two-time major winner and defending champ Jordan Spieth (68) are within striking distance heading into the weekend.

Garcia and fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm (69), England's Paul Casey (66) and American Sean O'Hair (68) are tied for fifth at five under 135.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell is alone in ninth, two shots adrift. Tony Finau shot a 65 and climbed into contention and into 10th place.

First-round co-leader Kelly Kraft stumbled to a 73 and is tied for 12th in a pack of nine golfers that includes Spieth, Stewart Cink (70) and Kevin Tway (70), all four strokes back.

Lee's round featured seven birdies and a bogey and was the low round of the day.

"I was hitting the ball very nicely today," said Lee, a Kiwi from Rotorua on the North Island. "I had strong finish, and that's what I need to have carrying over the next couple days."

Kisner continued his superb play this season as his round included four birdies and a bogey on No. 17.

Kisner's only PGA Tour victory came by an impressive six shots in 2015, but he has been knocking on the door with six runner-up finishes in his career, including the 2017 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Kisner said the key for him is to simply put his head down and not come up for air until Sunday.

"I only had one bogey each day and I played nicely coming down the fairway," Kisner said. "I probably got the better part of the draw with the weather with the wind laying down this afternoon. We got to keep making birdies and we'll look up on Sunday and see if we have a chance."

Spieth, who started on the back nine, began with bogeys on three of his first five holes but turned it around with a birdie on the par-four 15th. He added four more birdies on the front nine and parred his final four holes.

"That's what we needed to see," said the Texas native Spieth. "I hit the fairways, and if I missed the fairways they were good drives that were just off that gave me an opportunity to be on the green.

"I'm playing well. I'm just either not catching the breaks or my short game is just a little off."

Garcia, who earned his first USPGA Tour title at the Colonial in 2001, followed up a one-under 69 on Thursday with a second round four-under in his eighth career start at the event.

Round 1 - Trio top first round leaderboard

May 26, 2017

Americans Kelly Kraft, JT Poston and Derek Fathauer shared the first-round lead at Colonial on Thursday with a host of big names on their heels in the US PGA Tour Dean & DeLuca Invitational.

Kraft, Poston and Fathauer fired five-under par 65s on the par-70 Colonial Country Club layout in Fort Worth, Texas.

They were one in front of Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, rising Spanish star Jon Rahm and American Scott Brown, with five-time major winner Phil Mickelson heading a group a further stroke back on 67.

McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion, is making his debut in a tournament that clashes with the European PGA Championship at Wentworth and made the most of benign morning conditions to grab four birdies without a bogey.

"It's a real classic old-school golf course," he told PGATour.com. "At the back of your mind you're hoping you making right decisions off tees and get the right strategy on holes. I really felt like I played the course correctly today. Nice to get a low score under my belt."

Mickelson also teed off early and finished with three straight birdies at the seventh, eighth and ninth.

"We got a nice break because it was pretty calm this morning and we had an opportunity to get it going early," said Mickelson, a two-time winner at Colonial who rolled in a 30-footer to cap his round.

"The course challenges you tee-to-green but once you get it on the green you really have an opportunity to take advantage of the shots you hit in there, as opposed to some courses we play that are overly contoured."

Fathauer set an early target with six birdies in his 65 -- including four in his final nine holes.

Kraft, runner-up at Pebble Beach this year, had five birdies without a bogey, his 40-footer at 16 giving him a share of the lead.

Poston had six birdies against one bogey.

Brown had seven birdies and held the outright lead at six-under before a double-bogey at the 18th dropped him into a tie with McDowell and Rahm.

Mickelson was joined on 67 by another two-time winner in Zach Johnson along with Ryan Moore, Kevin Kisner, Nick Watney and Sean O'Hair.

Defending champion Jordan Spieth endured a roller-coaster of a day in which four bogeys and a double-bogey and six birdies -- including back-to-back birdies to end his round -- yielded an even-par 70.

Scores

 

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