Valero Texas Open: Final-round notebook

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SAN ANTONIO -- Zach Johnson drained a 10-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole (No. 18) to defeat James Driscoll. Johnson is now 2-0 in playoffs (2007 AT&T Classic).

• Zach Johnson (Sony Open in Hawaii) joins Geoff Ogilvy (Mercedes-Benz Championship, WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship) and Phil Mickelson (Northern Trust Open and WGC-CA Championship) as two-time winners on TOUR this season. Johnson, Ogilvy and Mickelson are 1-2-3 in the FedExCup standings respectively.

• Zach Johnson's 60 in the third-round made him the only player in TOUR history to record two career rounds at 60 or better. Johnson also posted a 60 in the third-round at the 2007 TOUR Championship.

• Zach Johnson joins Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods as the only players to defend their titles in 2009. Phil Mickelson defended his Northern Trust Open title, while Tiger Woods was able to defend his Arnold Palmer Invitational title. Otherwise, K.J. Choi's T12 was the best finish by a player trying to defend their TOUR win this year. During the 2008 TOUR season, only three players were able to defend their 2007 titles (Tiger Woods-Buick Invitational, Boo Weekley-Verizon Heritage and Padraig Harrington-British Open).

• Zach Johnson won the 2008 Valero Texas Open only seven months ago when the event was in the Fall Series. Below is a list showing how Johnson has fared in defending his TOUR titles:

• Had he won the playoff, James Driscoll's 8-stroke comeback in the final round would have been the largest comeback on TOUR since Stewart Cink's 10-stroke comeback to win the 2004 Verizon Heritage. Since 1970, there have been five 8-stroke comebacks, one 9-stroke comeback and a 10-stroke comeback.

• This was the 15th playoff in the 78 year history of the Valero Texas Open.

• James Driscoll now has two career playoff losses (2005 Zurich Classic of New Orleans) and no TOUR wins.

• James Driscoll, who has played 295 career rounds on the PGA TOUR, turned in four straight rounds in the 60s for the first time in one event. This was Driscoll's first appearance in the Valero Texas Open.

• Prior to this week, all 11 of Driscoll's top-25 finishes on TOUR came in the 2005 and 2008 seasons.

• Prior to his final-round 62, Driscoll's previous low round on TOUR was a 65, which he accomplished three times.

• Prior to this week's T3, Goydos' best finish in 2009 was a T17 at the Buick Invitational. Goydos has missed the cut in seven of his 12 starts this season. Goydos' last top-5 finish came at the 2008 PLAYERS Championship when he lost in a playoff to Sergio Garcia.

• Marc Leishman and Zach Johnson both picked up their last victory on October 10, 2008. On that date, Leishman was in Midland, Texas winning the Nationwide Tour's WNB Golf Classic, while Johnson was winning the Valero Texas Open.

• When Leishman won his first Nationwide Tour event last year at the WNB Golf Classic he was at 199 through three rounds. Again this week at the Valero Texas Open, he was at 199 through the third-round.

• Playing in his 12th TOUR event, Leishman turned in his best finish with a T5. Leishman has made six cuts, with his previous best finish coming at the Sony Open in Hawaii (T12). Prior to this week, Leishman had not posted consecutive rounds in the 60s (64-69-66-68­).

• If a player wants to win the Valero Texas Open they better shoot at least one round at 65 or better. Over the last 50 years of the Valero Texas Open, 42 of the 49 champions have turned in at least one round at 65 or lower, including the last 11 consecutive years. Hal Sutton in 1998 was the last Valero Texas Open winner to not post a 65 or better. Prior to Sutton, it was Calvin Peete in 1984 that won without posting a 65 or better.

• Out of the last 31 winners of the Valero Texas Open, only seven players shot one of their rounds in the 70s. Eric Axley in 2006 was only champion in the last 10 years to post a round in the 70s, when he shot a final-round 71.

• Brian Davis currently has the longest par or better scoring streak on TOUR (16).

• Robin Freeman (illness) withdrew prior to the final-round.