SAN ANTONIO — Brian Harman dealt with the wind and the nippiness Sunday with a pair of key birdies on the again 9 Sunday within the Valero Texas Open, closing with a 3-over 75 for a three-shot victory, his first title because the 2023 Open Championship.
Harman started the ultimate spherical with a three-shot lead and it quickly grew to become a good battle with Andrew Novak, who was going for his first PGA Tour victory and a spot within the Masters.
Harman by no means misplaced the lead, although it dropped to 1 shot with a bogey on No. 6 and a double bogey on the ninth gap when he needed to take a penalty drop after a pulled tee shot and nonetheless may solely advance it to the golf green.
However he holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the twelfth gap to present him some respiration room, and he received up-and-down from a bunker on the par-5 14th and his lead was again to 3 pictures.
He adopted that with a pair of bogeys, however he left the errors on the finish to Novak.
“Simply so pleased with how I dealt with these circumstances,” Harman mentioned. “This golf course gave me all I needed at present and glad to return out on high.”
Novak, two pictures behind with two to play, bogeyed the seventeenth with a foul chip and the par-5 18th with a foul drive. He shot 76 and fell right into a tie for third with Maverick McNealy (72).
Ryan Gerard made his solely bogey on the ultimate gap for a 69 to complete runner-up. It was one in every of solely seven rounds below par on the TPC San Antonio.
Harman was nonetheless below strain with two holes to play, particularly coming off back-to-back bogeys. His tee pictures bounced by the bunker and into the tough, and he pitched to about 12 toes for a stress-free par.
Novak drove over the inexperienced, however his pitch up the shelf hit the slope and rolled again to his toes. His birdie chip ran 6 toes by and he missed the putt to fall three behind.
On the 18th, Novak pulled his tee shot within the barren space of timber and scrub brush. He pitched again to the golf green, tried to achieve the inexperienced and narrowly went into the creek. He needed to stand on a boulder to play onto the inexperienced and he missed the 10-foot par putt.
Patrick Fishburn had an eagle-birdie end for a 68 and was half of a big group that tied for fifth. The eagle got here on the seventeenth gap, the place Fishburn holed a 105-foot putt. It was the longest putt anybody made on the PGA Tour since 2008.
Harman had been struggling since his main breakthrough at Hoylake and was on the verge of falling out of the highest 50. Now he heads to the Masters with a much-needed win.
Including to the troublesome of the circumstances was his thoughts being on an in depth household good friend, Cathy Dowdy. She spent time in a coma after serving to to rescue Harman’s 6-year-old son from a rip present in Ponte Vedra Seaside, Florida, final October whereas his household was on trip.
“Simply taking part in with a heavy coronary heart at present. Ms. Cathy, she’s not doing so good,” Harman mentioned. “Simply enthusiastic about her all day.”
The circumstances have been so troublesome that 4 gamers, together with Tommy Fleetwood, failed to interrupt 80 and the course performed to a median rating of 74.8.
