Landry breaks through at VTO

By
Mo Yoshimoto,

By
Mo Yoshimoto

Published October 4, 2018 04:04 PM

Valero Texas Open

San Antonio, TX

Overnight co-leader and World No. 114 Andrew Landry spun a 4-under-par 68 on Sunday at TPC San Antonio for a 72-hole tally of 17-under 271 (69-67-67-68), good for a two-shot win over Sean O’Hair (66) and Trey Mullinax (69), and his first PGA TOUR title in 32 events.

Playing out of the final threesome with Mullinax and two-time VTO champ and co-leader Zach Johnson (72), the 30-year-old landed eight (of 14) fairways and 10 greens in regulation, gaining 1.409 strokes approaching-the-green and 2.584 tee-to-green.

He went out in bogey-free, 4-under 32, circling holes 1, 2, 3 and 6, now leading Mullinax by three.

Landry carded his fifth (and final) birdie at 10 from 13’8”, his longest conversion of the day, before squaring a lone bogey-5 at 11. He crossed the finish line grinding out seven straight pars, including a 6’10” saver at 13.

Landry posted 1.500 putts per GIR and 1.541 SG: Putting with 27 total putts.

Landry’s Key Stats for the Week (ranking):

GIR: (1^st)

SG: Approach: (1^st)

SG: Tee-to-Green (1^st)

Bogeys: (T1)

The Arkansas alum, a pre-tourney 125/1 outright, is the first native Texan to win the Texas Open since Justin Leonard in 2007. He improves to 6-for-13 on the season with four top 25s, all doubling as top 10s. The Austin resident’s last nine starts include five missed cuts and three top 5s.

Season Form: 1-42-MC-MC-MC-MC-2-MC-4-WD-MC-59-7

OWGR: 66^th (UP 48); career high

FedExCup: 9^th (UP 33)

Landry’s previous best was P2 at the CareerBuilder back in mid-January (six starts ago) as 36-hole leader and World No. 184. He lost in a 4-hole playoff to then-World No. 3 Jon Rahm, who was the top-ranked OWGRer and the pre-tourney 8/1 fave outright.

Landry was a TOUR rookie in 2016 and finished 178^th in the FEC standings, including a T51 here in his tourney debut (70-73-71-73).

He ended up playing all of 2017 on Web.com Tour, finishing 4^th in the WCT Priority Rankings to earn a return trip back to the main stage. He totaled eight top 10s last year in 22 starts, highlighted by four top-3 finishes and one win.

Overall, Landry’s a two-time winner in 54 career starts on the junior circuit and a two-time grad.

Web Wins (2):

2017 The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic: par 72; 34^th career start; 54-hole co-leader; 5-under 67; won by three

2015 Cartagena de Indias (Colombia): par 72; 6^th career start; 54-hole co-leader; 3-under 69; won by five

Wins by Calendar Year:

2018: 1

2017: 1 (Web)

2016: 0

2015: 1 (Web)

FUN FACT #1: All three of his wins have come on par-72 courses and all as 54-hole co-leader. Landry closed those with 69-67-68. #TurnOutTheLights

FUN FACT #2: Landry changed shafts on his irons (and some lofts) on Wednesday! He wound up being the only player to post all four rounds in the 60s. #ItWorked

FUN FACT #3: Landry pocketed $1,116,000 for the win. That’s $520k more than he made in 54 starts on the Web. If you combine those 54 with 19 TOUR starts (2015/2016) = 73; he totals $969,802, still $146,198 less than he made on Sunday. #WinningMatters

Final Leaderboard (pre-tourney odds outright):

1- Andrew Landry (125/1)

T2- Sean O’Hair (150/1)

T2- Trey Mullinax (150/1)

4- Jimmy Walker (40/1)

5- Zach Johnson (50/1)

6- Joaquin Niemann (400/1)

Landry is the fourth triple-digit winner this season (25 events) and second consecutive (Kodaira, Heritage as 200/1)

The win comes in his 13^th start of the season, arriving off a T42 at last week’s RBC Heritage, where he was T12 thru 54 holes (69-68-69-75).

FUN FACT #4: Landry is the 13^th straight winner this season with either 0 or 1 week off prior to their wins. In total, 19 (of 25) winners fall into this category. #NoLongLayoffsPlease

Prior to the T42 at the Heritage, however, Landry hadn’t played in six weeks, including taking all of last month off. After a missed cut at the Honda – his fourth consecutive MC – he turned his attention to the birth of his first child in March. #NappyFactor

The two-time Web grad earns a two-year exemption on TOUR and a host of other goodies, including invites to the 2018 PGA Championship, the 2018 PLAYERS, the 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the 2019 Masters.

He’ll be making his debut at the Masters, a daunting task, but let’s not forget that in his only other major appearance to date, Landry led the 2016 U.S. Open (Oakmont CC) after Round 1 and was 2^nd and T2 after 36 and 54 holes, respectively, before an 8-over 78 out of the final pairing for T15 (66-71-70-78).

Field Scoring Average:

This was the 88^th playing of the Texas Open, ninth and ninth consecutive at TPC San Antonio (AT&T Oaks Course). Landry’s 17-under 271 is the lowest winning score (by three shots) since the tourney moved here in 2010.

Yardage: 7,435

Par: 72 (36-36)

Cumulative scoring averages:

R1: 73.53

R2: 72.05

R3: 70.93

R4: 72.13

Total: 72.37

Landry: 69-67-67-68 for 17.634 SG: Total

Landry’s Position by Round:

R1: T7

R2: T3*

R3: T1

FUN FACT #5: Landry is fifth straight VTO winner that was T3 or higher on the leaderboard thru 36 holes. Can’t be too far back on this course.

Leader/co-leaders by Round:

R1: Grayson Murray (finished T16): Drops to 0-for-1 as 18-hole leader/co-leader

R2: Zach Johnson (5^th): Drops to 2-for-9 as 36-hole leader/co-leader

R2: Ryan Moore (7^th): Drops to 2-for-7

R3: Andrew Landry (Won): Improves to 1-for-1 as 54-hole leader/co-leader

R3: Zach Johnson (5^th): Drops to 3-for-7

Draw:

A total of 80 players from a field of 156 made the 36-hole cut of 1-over 145:

37 (of 78) EARLY/late

43 (of 77) LATE/early; 1 WD

72 players survived a second cut after 54 holes: 1-over 217

Exactly 10 players finished in the top 10:

EARLY/late (5):

Andrew Landry (Won); Sean O’Hair (T2); Jimmy Walker (4^th); Kevin Streelman (T8); Andrew Putnam (T8)

LATE/early (5):

Trey Mullinax (T2); Zach Johnson (5^th); Joaquin Niemann (6^th); Ryan Moore (7^th); Chris Kirk (T8)

FUN FACT #6: Landry is the third straight VTO winner with an EARLY/late draw

14 (of 25) tourneys this season with a traditional draw:

Winners:

EARLY/late: 7 (Landry)

LATE/early: 7

Picking a Winner:

Through 25 events this season:

8 winners were in their 20s

12 were in their 30s (Landry: age 30)

5 were in their 40s

15 (of 25) winners had a top-25 finish the start prior (60.0%):

Landry? No: T42 (Heritage)

9 (of 25) winners had a top-10 finish the start prior (36.0%)

Landry? No: T42 (Heritage)

59/1

Average winner’s pre-tourney odds outright (rounded). Last 11:

Landry: 125/1 (VTO)

Kodaira: 200/1 (Heritage)

Reed: 50/1 (Masters)

Poulter: 66/1 (Houston Open)

Watson: 50/1 (WGC-Match Play)

Garnett: 50/1 (Corales)

McIlroy: 16/1 (API)

Casey: 20/1 (Valspar)

Mickelson: 25/1 (WGC-Mexico)

Thomas: 10/1 (Honda)

Watson: 50/1 (Genesis)

What We Learned:

Co-runner-up Trey Mullinax stormed into contention with a course-record and career-low 62 in Round 3.

He ranks No. 1 on TOUR this season in Driving Distance at 318.5 yards (66 measured drives), and 58^th in SG: Putting (.300). The Alabama alum was No. 1 this week in measured drives at 321.8 yards and was also No. 1 in SG: Putting (7.990). That’s a lethal combo.

Playing this season on conditional status, the 25-year-old has now connected three straight top 25s and improves to 7-for-10 with four top 25. His T2 on 15-under 273 (74-68-62-69) supplants a previous-best T8 at the Valspar (as an open-qualifier) and gains a top-10 exemption into the Wells Fargo.

Season Form: 2-22-8-47-MC-57-37-20-WD-MC

VTO Form: 2-MC

OWGR: 169 (UP 137); career high

FEC: 59 (UP 67)

TEXANS: If you played the any-relation-to-Texas angle, you were rewarded with a:

Win: Landry (native and resident)

T2: O’Hair (native and resident)

4: Walker (resident and Baylor product)

5: Johnson (four of 12 TOUR titles in Texas); most in any state

LANDRY: is a strong play against weak fields:

At 212 in Strength of Field, the VTO was the:

Weakest SOF (full field) of calendar-year 2018 (16 events)

Previous Low:

223 at CareerBuilder, where Landry finished P2

His other career top 10s:

T4 at RSM (Nov.); SOF: 137

T7 at Safeway (Oct.); SOF: 115

By comparison, the Masters is the strongest field so far this season at 794

Sean O’Hair: Playing out of the penultimate threesome, the Lubbock native and resident tossed up a day-low, 6-under-par 32-34=66 in the final round to reach 15-under 273 (72-70-65-66), up three spots to a season-best T2.

The 35-year-old was chasing his fifth TOUR title in 345 events, first since the 2011 Canadian Open 167 starts ago, but settles for a seventh runner-up.

It’s his sixth runner-up since the win, one in each of the last four seasons, with his most recent a T2 at the 2017 DEAN & DELUCA in Fort Worth.

O’Hair now has three top 5s in his last 40 starts, all in Texas. He improves to 8-for-12 on the season with three top 25s and two top 10s, bettering a T7 at Bay Hill three starts ago.

Season Form: 2-MC-64-7-12-MC-64-73-69-50-MC-MC

VTO Form: 2-MC-MC

OWGR: 83 (UP 29)

FEC: 60 (UP 69)

Low Rounds:

R1: 67: Grayson Murray

R2: 65: Zach Johnson, Martin Laird

R3: 62: Trey Mullinax; course record; career low

R4: 66: Sean O’Hair

Bogey-free Rounds:

R1: Ryan Moore (68); Billy Horschel (68)

R2: Chris Kirk (66); Ryan Moore (67); Nicholas Lindheim (67); Kevin Na (70-MC);

Chesson Hadley (71); Chris Paisley (71-MC)

R3: Sean O’Hair (65); Andrew Landry (67); Andrew Putnam (68); J.T. Poston (68); Brandt Snedeker (68); Sam Ryder (68); Austin Cook (68); Graeme McDowell (71)

R4: NONE

Multiple Bogey-free Rounds: Moore (x2)

Round 4 Stats Comparison / Final Threesome (ranking of 72 players):

SG: Off-the-Tee:

Landry: 0.77 (19^th)

Johnson Z: -0.42 (54^th)

Mullinax: 1.84 (3^rd)

SG: Approach-the-Green:

Landry: 1.41 (15^th)

Johnson Z: 1.47 (13^th)

Mullinax: 2.25 (7^th)

Proximity to Hole:

Landry: 30’5” (7^th)

Johnson Z: 34’0” (15^th)

Mullinax: 30’8” (9^th)

SG: Around-the-Green:

Landry: 0.40 (27^th)

Johnson Z: 0.46 (25^th)

Mullinax: -0.86 (59^th)

SG: Putting:

Landry: 1.54 (13^th)

Johnson Z: -1.39 (58^th)

Mullinax: -0.10 (38^th)

SG: Total:

Landry: 4.12 (6^th)

Johnson Z: 0.12 (T29)

Mullinax: 3.12 (T7)

Putts:

Landry: 23 (T2)

Johnson Z: 31 (T64)

Mullinax: 28 (T37)

Landry’s Weekly Stats (ranking of 72 players):

Birdies: 21 (T2)

Bogeys: 4 (T1)

Par-3 Scoring: 2.63 (1^st)

Par-4 Scoring: 3.85 (T4)

Par-5 Scoring: 4.69 (T29)

Driving Distance (all drives): 292.0 yards (26^th)

Driving Accuracy: 33/56 (T29) at 58.93%

GIR: 53/72 (1^st) at 73.61%

Proximity to Hole: 33’11” (7^th)

Putts per GIR: 1.604 (4^th)

Total Putts: 107 (T10)

Putts by Round: 28-27-29-23

Scrambling: 15/19 (2^nd) at 78.95%

All Around: 3^rd

SG: Off-the-Tee: 3.60 (9^th)

SG: Approach-the-Green: 7.69 (1^st)

SG: Around-the-Green: 1.19 (33^rd)

SG: Putting: 5.17 (8^th)

SG: Tee-to-Green: 12.47 (1^st)

TOUR Rookies &/or First-Timers:

TOUR Rookies: 23

Top-10 finishes: 0

Denny McCarthy: Making his tournament debut, the UVA alum finished T20 on 5-under 283 (72-67-74-70). It’s the first time in 12 starts that he’s been low rookie.

The 25-year-old has missed more cuts (7) than he’s made this season (5), but has now connected three straight paydays, including a career-best 4^th at the Corales.

Season Form: 20-43-4-MC-66-MC-MC-MC-68-MC-MC-MC

OWGR: 421 (UP 24); career high

FEC: 142 (UP 18); career high

First-Timers: 32

Top-10 finishes: 1

Joaquin Niemann: Making his tournament and pro debut on a sponsor invite, the former No. 1-ranked amateur in the world was top debutant with a career-best solo 6^th on 12-under 276 (72-70-67-67).

In the finale, he was sitting outside the top 10 with three holes remaining but closed with hat-trick of circles, stiffing all of those approaches to inside of 10 feet.

Overall, this was the 19-year-old’s fourth TOUR event and eclipses a previous-best T29 at the 2017 Greenbrier. He entered off a missed cut at the Masters and as a result of turning pro, forfeited exemptions into the 2018 U.S. Open and Open Championship.

The Chilean, and new PING staffer, was T2 for the week in total birdies (21), 2^nd in SG: Approach (7.569) and T3 in GIR (70.83 percent).

He collects $223,200 and 100.00 non-member FEC points, which slots him at No. 8 on the Non-Member FEC Points list. Niemann needs 268.552 points to qualify for Special Temporary Membership.

Season Form: 6-MC

OWGR: 640 (UP 903); career high

Season Leaders in Top-10 Finishes:

7: Brian Harman

5: Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Chesson Hadley, Marc Leishman

4: Andrew Landry, Ryan Moore, Kevin Streelman, Webb Simpson, Henrik Stenson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patton Kizzire, Justin Rose, Bubba Watson, Tony Finau, Jordan Spieth, Si Woo Kim, Patrick Reed, Luke List

Consecutive Top 10s on TOUR:

4: Patrick Reed (1-T9-T7-T2)

3: Henrik Stenson (T5-T6-4)

2: Kevin Streelman (T8-T7)

2: Jordan Spieth (3-T3)

2: Paul Dunne (T8-T5); non-member

Consecutive Top-10 streaks ended at:

NONE

Updated Top 10 in FedExCup Standings (points):

Landry collects 500 FEC points for the victory and jumps 33 places to 9^th in the standings. Justin Thomas (idle) remains No. 1 in the standings for a 10^th event in a row and ninth overall week this season:

1. Justin Thomas (1,769)

2. Patton Kizzire (1,329)

3. Bubba Watson (1,281)

4. Phil Mickelson (1,248)

5. Dustin Johnson (1,176)

6. Patrick Reed (1,161)

7. Jon Rahm (1,139)

8. Justin Rose (1,014)

9. Andrew Landry (1,011); UP 33

10. Tony Finau (1,006)

Updated Top 10 in OWGR:

With a Strength of Field rating of 212 (up from 203 last year), Landry banks 40.00 world-ranking points and jumps 48 spots to a career-high 66^th in OWGR.

1. Dustin Johnson

2. Justin Thomas

3. Jordan Spieth

4. Jon Rahm

5. Justin Rose

10. Sergio Garcia

Field Breakdown & Top-10 Finishes:

OWGR field average: 336^th