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“ At times you have to dig deep . When you want something bad enough , and then you have to go right down to the bottom and grab hold of what you can to come back up .”
IAN POULTER
WINS HOUSTON OPEN
eau Hossler came up short in his quest to win his �rst PGA TOUR title but left the Golf Club of Houston feeling upbeat about where his game is headed after playing in another �nal group . The 23-year-old gave Ian Poulter everything he could handle , stringing together four straight birdies on Nos . 12-15 to take a
Ian Poulter
one-shot lead at 19 under . Hossler had the chance to close Poulter out on the last but couldn ’ t get his 30-foot birdie putt to fall . With Poulter ’ s putt on a similar line from just inside 20 feet , Hossler knew he was going to extra holes . “ Ian basically had the same putt and there ’ s no way he ’ s going to miss it after watching my ball ,” Hossler said . On the �rst playoff hole , Hossler blew his tee shot into the fairway bunker for the second straight time and then proceeded to fan his approach into the greenside bunker . Knowing it would take a near-perfect shot to reach the back-left hole location , Hossler overshot the green and found the hazard , leading to a triplebogey that ended his tournament hopes . “ I said yesterday that I wanted to beat Ian at his best and I saw it today ,” Hossler said . He added , “ Pretty unfortunate to go out like that in that playoff , but a really tough hole .” If the TOUR rookie can take solace in a playoff loss , he doesn ’ t need to look any further than the fact that he ’ s now been part of the �nal group on Sunday in two of his �rst 14 events this season . “ I know I ’ m going in the right direction ,” Hossler said . “ This was by far the most comfortable I ’ ve felt in that �nal pairing or near contention , so I ’ ve proven myself now that I can win out here without a question of a doubt .”
Andrew Landry winner of Valero Texan Open
Andrew Landry delivered the winning performance , shooting a four-under-68 to win the Valero Texas Open by two strokes over Sean O ’ Hair and Trey Mullinax . It ’ s the first PGA TOUR win in 32 starts for Landry , the Texas native who starred in college at Arkansas . On the surface , that doesn ’ t seem like a lot of starts for a first-time winner , but the road to get to this point has been paved with plenty of heartbreaking moments . Lots of golfers develop scar tissue . For Landry , those were the learning moments that paid off at Texas Open in TPC San Antonio . “ I think that all those kinds of things really help every player whenever you get in a situation and you fail and you continue to fail ,” Landry said . “ You ’ re learning every single time . “ Oakmont definitely did help me . It helped me on how to control my pace and the way my swing is and how important I walk , how that can lead into my golf swing .” And now he ’ s a TOUR winner . Expect Patricia Landry to wear a Valero Texas Open shirt sometime in the future .
26 G o l f P l u s MAY 2018