Zurich Classic: Final-round notebook
By Mark Williams, PGA TOUR Staff
AVONDALE, La. -- Jerry Kelly shot 1-under 71 in the final round Sunday to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with 14-under 274. Kelly won by a stroke over Rory Sabbatini (67), Charlie Wi (68) and Charles Howell III (68).
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• Kelly has now held/shared the 54-hole lead seven times in his career and gone on to win twice. That other victory came at the 2002 Sony Open in Hawaii, where he led by two, shot a 70 and won by one.
• Kelly ranked 12th in scoring average (70.01) before the week began and No. 43 in the Presidents Cup standings. He jumped to No. 15 on the Presidents Cup list and will push hard to make Captain Fred Couples' team in San Francisco later this year. Kelly went 2-2-0 in his Presidents Cup debut in 2003.
• Kelly ranked No. 97 on both the FedExCup standings and the PGA TOUR money list entering the week. After his victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Kelly is No. 17 on the FedExCup list and No. 14 on the money list.
• Kelly now has 70 career top-10s from 418 starts on the PGA TOUR.
• Kelly made just four bogeys for the week with two of them coming in the final round at holes 8 and 10.
• Third-round leaders/co-leaders have enjoyed great success on the PGA TOUR this year, as 14 of 17 have gone on to win the tournament.
• Howell took the outright lead at 14 under when he birdied the par-3 ninth hole. Howell was 15 under through 14 holes before two bogeys over the final four dropped him out of the lead.
• Howell has made 12 starts on the PGA TOUR this season with just one missed cut (FBR Open). His tie for second this week is his third top-5 finish this year. A tie for second at the Transitions Championship and fourth at the Sony Open in Hawaii are his other top-5s this season.
• Howell scored three of four rounds in the 60s this week, making it 19 rounds in the 60s for the season.
• Sabbatini (67-275) recorded a season-best finish with his tie for second. It follows a tie for eighth at last week's Verizon Heritage, where he shot 66 in the final round. His previous best finish this season is a tie for sixth at the Northern Trust Open.
• Wi, the first-round leader, tied for second to equal his career-best finish on the PGA TOUR (he also tied for second at the 2007 U.S Bank Championship in Milwaukee and the 2008 Valero Texas Open). Wi recorded just four bogeys for the week (same as Kelly), three in Round 2 on holes 10, 14 and 15, along with one at the 17th hole in Round 3.
• Louisiana native David Toms (68-276) made his 16th career start in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He won the tournament in 2001 when it was contested at English Turn G&CC. The victory was the fifth of his 12 career titles. Toms has now made three starts at TPC Louisiana, missing the cut in 2005, tying for 44th in 2007 and tying for fifth on Sunday.
• Toms (68-276) earned a spot in THE PLAYERS Championship (May 4-10) by virtue of being the highest-ranked player on the FedExCup standings outside of the top-10 who are not already exempt. Toms started the week No. 27 on the list and moved to No. 21 with his tie for fifth this week. The next highest ranked players on the FedExCup standings who are not in THE PLAYERS Championship are Scott Piercy (40) and Jeff Klauk (42). Piercy is ahead of Klauk by just seven points.
• Steve Marino holed a 35-yard pitch shot for eagle at the 335-yard 16th hole to move to 13 under for the first time. Marino played the 16th hole in 4 under for the week. A bogey at the final hole dropped him into a tie for fifth with Toms but it was still his best finish of the season. Marino finished tied for seventh at the Sony Open in Hawaii, his first event of the year.
• Charley Hoffman (69-281) made his 10th consecutive cut of the 2009 season at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and extended his number of consecutive cuts made to 19. He now lies second in that category behind Tiger Woods, who has 33 consecutive made cuts. Sergio Garcia is third with 18. The last cut Hoffman missed was at the 2008 John Deere Classic, where he shot 71-70--141 and missed by two strokes. Hoffman has made 71 cuts from 109 starts (64%) in his career.
• Aaron Watkins (70-277) earned his career-best PGA TOUR result with a tie for seventh. In his fifth event of the season (and only the sixth start of his career) Watkins, a 26-year-old Kansas State University graduate, equaled his career low-round (68/Round 2) and earned a career-best check of $203,175.
• Watkins advanced through all three stages of the 2008 Qualifying Tournament to finish tied for 18th and earn his TOUR card. He has made 31 Nationwide Tour starts with a best finish of a tie for eighth at the 2007 Chitimacha Louisiana Open. He is the second former Kansas State golfer to qualify for the PGA TOUR, following Jim Colbert.
• Watkins, along with Roland Thatcher (70-278), will gain a spot in next week's Quail Hollow Championship with their top-10 finishes this week.
• Tim Petrovic (67-279), the 2005 Zurich Classic of New Orleans champion, made a move up the leaderboard with a final round 5-under 67 that included five consecutive birdies (Nos. 11-15). Petrovic finished tied for 11th after starting the day tied for 40th.
• Steve Stricker (67-277) jumped from a tie for 21st to a tie for seventh, shooting his season-low final round (in relation to par) 5-under 67. Stricker also shot 67 in the final-round of the Northern Trust Open, however, that round was 4 under par.
• The bright spot for George McNeill (78-290) was a final-round eagle at the par-4 13th hole when he hit a 331-yard drive to 31-feet and holed the putt. McNeill was 9 over par in his final 19 holes of the tournament after recording a triple-bogey to end Saturday's third-round 69.
• TPC Louisiana played to a scoring average of 71.922 for the week. Its daily scoring averages were 71.942 on Thursday, 71.981 on Friday, 71.750 on Saturday and 71.861 on Sunday.
• The Kodak Challenge hole this week featured the 215-yard, par-3 17th hole at TPC Louisiana. There were just two birdies recorded at the hole in the final round, and a total of 33 birdies for the week. Seventeen averaged 3.240 and ranked the second most difficult for the week. Will McKenzie, Steve Lowery and Chris DiMarco share the lead at 6 under.
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