Out of the penultimate threesome, World No. 1310 Martin Trainer bogeyed three of his final five for an even-par 33-37=70 in R4 of the HPE Houston Open, down three places to T5 on 6-under 274, four short of champion Jason Kokrak (65).
The 30-year-old, who opened 65-65 to co-lead after R1 and lead by one at the midpoint (as a pre-tourney 1000/1 outright), ends 74-70 for his second career top 10 in 82 events. The first was a win during his rookie campaign 71 starts ago, claiming the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open on debut in 2019 as a pre-tourney 100/1 in his 11th career event, ninth as a member. The Southern Cal alum, who drops to 0-for-1 both as an 18- and 36-hole leader/co-leader, began the finale in a five-way T2, took a 2-shot lead thru 11 holes after his fourth circle against one square at the par-4 11th (from 71'1'), but stalled out to three bogey-5s at 14, 17 and 18, the latter two 3-jacks. For the week, he tallied 17 birdies versus nine bogeys and one double, and ranked 4th in SG: Putting (7.727) and 38th SG: Tee-to-Green (1.664), but lost 4.874 tee-to-green over his final 36 holes.