Verizon Heritage: Rd. 4
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
GAY GETS IT DONE (5:52 p.m.): The first one is always the hardest, usually anyway. It took Brian Gay until his 293rd career start to get his first PGA TOUR victory. Sunday, he got his second, coming just over a year after that maiden win.
Gay did it in record fashion, too, setting a new 72-hole record for the Verizon Heritage at 20-under 264, one shot clear of Loren Roberts' mark from 1996.
Gay got off to a great start with a birdie and an eagle and never looked back. His 10-shot victory is also a tournament record, shattering Davis Love III's previous record of seven, set in 1998. It was also the first time since Phil Mickelson in 2006 that someone won a TOUR event by as many as 10 strokes.
Gay's final-round 64 was the lowest score of the day and a validation that his first career victory, in Mexico, was anything but a fluke. In a word, he was dominating. -- Brian Wacker
GAY ON RECORD PACE (5:30 p.m.): The birdie barrage continues for Brian Gay. He just got to 20 under with his sixth birdie of the day -- to go with an eagle and just one bogey -- and if he can par his way in will set a tournament record for the lowest 72-hole score here.
Gay has birdied three of his last four holes with the latest birdie coming via a 16-foot, 7-inch putt on the par-4 16th. -- Brian Wacker
RECORD IN DANGER (5:16 p.m.): Brian Gay just reached 19 under with another birdie. If he can get to 20 under, he'll set a new tournament record, breaking Loren Roberts' mark of 19-under 265 set in 1996. Getting that last birdie, however, will be tough. The 16th, 17th and 18th are some of the toughest holes on the course and Gay has yet to birdie any of them this week.
Meanwhile, the battle for second just got bigger with Luke Donald getting to 10 under with a round of 66 that included a birdie on the 18th hole. -- Brian Wacker
GAY CLOSING IN (5:02 p.m.): Brian Gay is closing in on perhaps the biggest win in Verizon Heritage history, leading by eight now at 18 under. The record is seven. Just as intriguing is the battle for second place. Briny Baird and Lee Janzen are tied at 10 under and you really have to credit Janzen, who got off to a miserable bogey-bogey start after hitting his second shot at No. 2 off a tree and out of bounds. He's 3 under since that disastrous start. Baird is 3 under on his round, having closed out the front nine with three straight birdies. Whatever happens, it'll be a pretty big week for both players. -- Brian Wacker
NICE GUYS DO FINISH FIRST (4:43 p.m.): For the first time since the 2002 MasterCard Colonial, Nick Price was able to hoist a trophy.
Price -- one of the most respected and genial players on TOUR -- won for the first time in 39 starts on the Champions Tour, capturing the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am. His final-round 71 was anything but ordinary, as Price made seven birdies, a bogey and three double bogeys.
The South African beat fellow World Golf Hall of Fame member Larry Nelson by two strokes. Loren Roberts, Lonnie Nielsen and Hal Sutton all tied for third in Lutz, Fla. -- Lauren Deason
GAY FINALLY MAKES A BOGEY (4:28 p.m.): An impressive streak just came to an end as Brian Gay made his first bogey in his last 39 holes. It was just his second of the week and dropped Gay to 17 under on the tournament.
The last player to win a 72-hole event on the PGA TOUR without a single bogey was Lee Trevino, who was bogey-free in winning the 1974 Greater New Orleans Open. -- Brian Wacker
NO THREE-PEAT FOR BOO (4:15 p.m.): There will be no three-peat for Boo Weekley this week at Harbour Town, where he has won each of the past two years. Never really in contention, and bothered by a sore back early in the week, Weekley did shoot his best score of the week on Sunday, however, with a 3-under 68.
He also seemed to straighten out the putting problems that have been plaguing him of late. Weekley, who has been working hard with short-game coach Mike Taylor this season, had 12 one-putts today and one hole with more than two putts all week. The flat stick stroke seems to be coming around for Weekley, so don't be surprised if he wins again soon. -- Brian Wacker
BATTLE ON FOR SECOND PLACE (3:55 p.m.): With Brian Gay in complete command at Harbour Town, the race is on for second place as the final group makes the turn. Briny Baird is at 11 under and alone in second, one shot clear of Todd Hamilton and Tim Wilkinson. Two shots back from them are Luke Donald and Lee Jaznen, who has it back to even-par today after a rocky start with bogeys on his first two holes. -- Brian Wacker
BAIRD ON A BIRDIE BINGE (3:30 p.m.): Briny Baird, using a belly putter for the first time this week, just moved into second place all by himself thanks to a third straight birdie and his fourth in five holes.
Much like leader Brian Gay, Baird has torn up the front nine this week, playing it in a combined 11 under after making the turn in 32 today. -- Brian Wacker
NO LOVE (3:18 p.m.): Davis Love III is 2 under on his round and 9 under for the tournament, but has to feel like his start could have been much better.
The five-time Verizon Heritage champ missed a 7-footer for birdie on the first hole, then missed an eagle from 11 1/2 feet on No. 2. At the par-5 fifth hole, Love once again missed a birdie opportunity when his putt from 17 feet came up just short. -- Brian Wacker
LOW ROUNDS OF THE DAY ARE IN (3:05 p.m.): Rory Sabbatini and Paul Casey are in the clubhouse with the lowest scores of the day with each shooting 5-under 66. Their rounds were near identical as both had five birdies -- including four on the front nine -- and no bogeys.
For now, that has Sabbatini in the top 10 at T8. If he stays there, it'll be Sabo's fourth finish in the top 12 this season. Casey, on the other hand, is currently tied for 14th. His previous best finishes this year include a win in Houston and a runner-up at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. -- Brian Wacker
RECORD IN JEOPARDY? (2:53 p.m.): With Brian Gay cruising along at 16 under, we may be looking at a tournament record if he can add a few more more birdies. The lowest 72-hole score recorded in this event is a 19-under 265 by Loren Roberts in 1996. That year, Roberts went 66-69-63-67. So far, Gay has gone 67-66-67.
As for the biggest margin of victory, that's also in jeopardy. Davis Love III won by seven in 1998 -- the same margin separating Gay from his closest competitors at the moment.
While we're at it, the lowest final round in tournament history is a 62, shot by Roberts in 1994. -- Brian Wacker
CARBON COPY (2:38 p.m.): It took 293 starts before Brian Gay got his first win, which came last year in Mexico. Now, he's on the verge of win No. 2 with a seven-shot lead at 16 under. If he shoots 1 over the rest of the way, he'll have played all four rounds here at Harbour Town in the 60s ... just like he did at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun.
With performances like that, it looks like the 37-year-old Gay is finally starting to close the deal when in these positions. This would be his second career win and 26th career top 10, three of which have come this year and six of which came in 2008. And all you have to do is look at some other numbers to validate just how good Gay can be -- last year he ranked 14th in scoring average, 12th in driving accuracy and sixth in putting average. -- Brian Wacker
GAY EXTENDS LEAD (2:18 p.m.): The folks at Harbour Town might want to start tailoring that tartan jacket that goes to the winner of the Verizon Heritage. Brian Gay birdied the first hole and just added an eagle at No. 2 after rolling in a 57-foot bomb.
He's now six shots clear of his nearest competitor and has 15 birdies on the week. Even more important, Gay still has just one bogey -- amazing considering the field is averaging just fewer than 10 bogeys per player thru 54 holes. -- Brian Wacker
JANZEN'S STRUGGLES CONTINUE (2:05 p.m.): Leader Brian Gay and Lee Janzen are headed in opposite directions. Gay just birdied the opening hole to extend his lead to four shots, while Janzen, who bogeyed the first hole after nearly going out of bounds off the tee, did go OB on No. 2.
Playing from the right side of the fairway, Janzen tried to hit a power cut around the palm trees in front of him on the 501-yard par-5. Unfortunately, his shot hit the tree dead on and rocketed out of bounds, causing him to reach for a new ball without hesitation before eventually making another bogey. -- Brian Wacker
SHAKY START? (1:48 p.m.): Lee Janzen couldn't get up-and-down for par from just behind the first green after his tee shot nearly went out of bounds on the hole. The two-time major champion hasn't won since the 1998 U.S. Open at Olympic Club and knows it's going to take a lot to catch leader Brian Gay today.
"I played in Mexico when he won," Janzen said yesterday. "He doesn't get in trouble off the tee and he's a really good putter. If he continues to play that kind of steady golf, it will take a great round to catch him.
"My game plan will be try to make good shots, one after another, and whatever happens. If things work out right and get a good bounce here and there and make good putts and get close, you never know what happens in the end." -- Brian Wacker
BREAKING DOWN HARBOUR TOWN (1:35 p.m.): If anyone plans on catching Brian Gay today, they better make a move early. The front nine at Harbour Town is playing about a half a stroke under par this week, while the back is almost a full stroke over par.
Also, the back nine features the two toughest holes of the week -- the 192-yard, par-3 14th, which ranks as the most difficult and the 452-yard, par-4 finishing hole, which is second most difficult.
The 10th and 11th holes aren't exactly easy, either. Both are playing over par and rank as the sixth and fourth most difficult, respectively, on the course.
If Tim Wilkinson, Lee Janzen or Todd Hamilton wants to make up ground, they're going to have to crank up the pressure right out of the gate and hope that Gay doesn't get off to the kind of start he's had this week. Through three rounds, Gay has played the front nine in a combined 10 under with 10 birdies and no bogeys. -- Brian Wacker
WILKINSON ABOUT TO MAKE A BIG JUMP (1:15 p.m.): This is just Tim Wilkinson's second year on the PGA TOUR -- and the second time he's been in the final group -- but he's about to make the biggest jump of his career if he can hold onto second place, or win, at the Verizon Heritage.
Currently 180th in the FedExCup standings, Wilkinson would move up to 45th if he finishes second and inside the top 30 if he wins.
Much like Gay, he's been ridiculously accurate, missing just three fairways on a course where the field is missing 31 percent of the fairways on average. That's a career-best for Wilkinson and just one off the Harbour Town record of two fairways missed through three rounds, which has been accomplished six times.
Wilkinson has also needed just 70 putts -- including a field-best 37 one-putts -- this week. It seems unlikely, but if he takes 21 or fewer putts today, he'll break the PGA TOUR record of fewest putts in a tournament, set by David Frost ... at the 2005 Verizon Heritage. -- Brian Wacker
UP AND DOWN (1:00 p.m.): Not only has Brian Gay been extremely good off the tee and into the greens this week, he's been nothing short of spectacular when he hasn't hit the green in regulation. Of the 16 greens he's missed in regulation, Gay has gone 16 for 17 in converting par. Part of that is his chipping -- average distance left is 4 feet, 3 inches -- and part of that is always phenomenal putting which has been a perfect 38 for 38 from inside inside 5 feet. -- Brian Wacker
| Brian Gay - Saving par this week | ||||||||||||
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EARLY MOVERS (12:45 p.m.): The final group won't tee off until about an hour from now, but a few players are trying to apply at least a little pressure on Brian Gay, who has a three-shot lead going into play today.
Rory Sabbatini and Paul Casey are both 4 under today, though they'll need to keep up a torrid birdie pace since Sabbatini is seven back and Casey eight back at the moment.
As for Gay, a big reason he's been able to build such a cushion is that he's hit tons of fairways and greens this week -- he's second in the field in driving accuracy, T2 in greens in regulation, first in proximity to the hole and second when putting from 4 to 8 feet. -- Brian Wacker
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