Patrick Rodgers leads John Deere Classic after Round 3

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Sepp Straka is going back to Georgia in a few weeks. He’s headed to the Masters, after pulling off a huge comeback to win the Honda Classic. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Sepp Straka, The Honda Classic Straka, now 14th in the FedExCup standings, trailed by five shots entering the final round and tapped in for birdie in the rain on the final hole to beat Shane Lowry by one shot to become the first Austrian winner in PGA TOUR history. He shot a 4-under 66 on Sunday to finish at 10 under and earn $1.44 million. Lowry shot his third consecutive round of 67, his 9 under total for the week coming up one short. First-round leader Kurt Kitayama (68) was alone in third at 8 under, and Daniel Berger — who led by six shots with 19 holes left in the tournament — simply fell apart Sunday, his round of 74 leaving him 7 under for the week and three shots behind Straka. Lowry needed to make a 45-footer for birdie on the final hole to force a playoff. It missed, and with that, The Honda Classic had a new champion — one who came into the week ranked No. 176 in the world, has never been higher than No. 129 on that list, and whose claim to fame as a pro probably was being the first round leader at the Tokyo Olympics last summer. He’s a PGA TOUR winner now. “The third round, I definitely didn’t have my best stuff,” Straka said. “I just hung in there and grinded out a good round. I hit the ball really nice today and really could take advantage.” The victory ensures that Straka — who played his college golf at Georgia — will play the Masters in April. His wife took a flight in to be at the course on Sunday, just in case, and Straka hadn’t even seen her until he got to the practice green before teeing off. They’ll have quite a bit to celebrate, after Straka matched the biggest come-from-behind win this season. Luke List was also down by five entering the final round at San Diego last month. Berger needed a miracle at the end, and it didn’t happen. His second shot at the par-5 18th went into the water, and with that his hopes were officially gone. Lowry also trailed by five shots entering the day; that deficit was gone after just five holes. The undoing for Berger truly began Saturday when he went to the 18th tee with a six-shot lead, then made bogey. Still, the five-shot lead through 54 holes matched the biggest in Honda history and for a hometown guy the ingredients were in place for a memorable win. Sunday had different ideas. He was paired with Lowry for the final round, and it didn’t take long for the leaderboard to considerably tighten. Lowry made birdie on the first; the lead was down to four. Berger put a tee ball into the pine straw on the par-5 third, then had a ball buried in the sand of a greenside bunker and made double-bogey 7 to see the lead trimmed to two. Lowry tapped in for birdie at the fourth. Lead down to one. Berger three-putted from 60 feet on the fifth for bogey. The lead was gone. And when Berger missed a 15-footer for par at the sixth, Lowry was suddenly up by one. Straka was in the group five shots back to start the day, then made bogey on the opening hole. But slowly and steadily, he clawed back — a birdie on the par-4 ninth got him to 7 under, followed by another birdie on the 14th. A 20-footer on the 16th pulled him into a tie. That’s when weather decided to show up, too. As if the finish needed more drama, it simply started pouring as the final groups were finishing. Kitayama and Straka were camped out on the 18th fairway, neither wanting to emerge from under their umbrellas to play their second shots into the par-5 finishing hole. Both eventually did, each hitting to about 50 feet and setting up eagle putts. Straka two-putted, then waited to see if Lowry could get to 10 under. He couldn’t. And Straka is on his way back to Georgia.

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The Regular Season has been nothing short of “regular” but it will conclude this week with FedExCup Playoff spots up for grabs at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, NC. The end of the line is a familiar one as Sedgefield has hosted the final Regular Season event annually since 2008. Eligibility for the 2020-2021 season is not on the line, but only the top 125 players will advance to THE NORTHERN TRUST next week. Usually the only Donald Ross design on TOUR during the Regular Season, Sedgefield was joined this year and last by another, Detroit Golf Club. Kris Spence oversaw the redo here in 2007 and another in 2012, which included adding Champion Bermuda greens. Sedgefield plays 25 yards longer this season as a new tee box was added to Hole No. 14 but still doesn’t stretch over 7,200 yards. Champion Bermuda greens are above average in size and always roll perfectly, hence the low scores. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks The Par-70 is protected by 52 bunkers and five water hazards but the openness and lack of rough makes it annually one of the easiest tracks on TOUR. In fact, it has played as the easiest or second-easiest Par-70 over the last three seasons and spits out low scores as the rule, not the exception. Wrapping up at the Wyndham means four days of breaking par and keeping any score with 70-something off the card. J.T. Poston will look to become the first to defend his title and win on this track for a second time. He’ll lead the field of 156 competing for a piece of the $6.4 million purse ($1.154 winner) and those very last, precious FedExCup Points (500 winner). Recent Winners at Wyndham 2019: J.T. Poston (-22) Final round 62, tied for the lowest winning score for a winner in tournament history to win by one over Webb Simpson. … Bogey-free winner for the first time ANYWHERE on TOUR since Lee Trevino in 1974. … North Carolina native won for the first time on TOUR. … Trailed by three shots after each round. … Fantastic performance included T2 Fairways, first GIR, T3 Proximity and T1 Scrambling. … Fourth consecutive winner to finish top 3 in Strokes-Gained: Approach. … Third winner in four to finish first or second in Strokes-Gained: Tee to Green. … Tied tournament scoring record. Notables: Simpson, the last native North Carolinian to win before Poston, (T2) and Billy Horschel (T6) co-led the field in par-breakers. … 2015 champ Si Woo Kim (T5) closed with 64. … Josh Teater (T6) was only one of two players in the top 30 to sign for a round above 70. … Brice Garnett (T6) played in the final group and closed with 70. … Sungjae Im (T6) opened with 62, one of three on the week. … Cut was 4-under, as lift, clean and place was in effect the first two rounds. … Top 47 players 10-under or better. … Four rounds above 70 of the top 40 players. … Two players broke into the top 125 (Patton Kizzire, Andrew Landry). 2018: Brandt Snedeker (-21) Fired 59 in the first round to set the course record and a foundation for wire-to-wire victory. … Won by three shots over CT Pan and Simpson. … Only player to win at Forest Oaks (2007) and Sedgefield. … Only fifth 59 of 10 to go on to win. … Missed tournament scoring record by a shot. … Not surprisingly only winner in last six top 10 Strokes-Gained: Around the Green. … Top 10 Par-4 scoring (T3) same as the last six winners. … Only winner in last six (T51) outside top 10 in driving accuracy. Notables: Pan was tied with Snedeker on No. 18 tee box before hitting it OB. … Simpson closed with 62, his best ever. … Jim Furyk (T4) closed with 63. … Brian Gay (T6) had a 63-62 Friday-Saturday. … 2009 champ Ryan Moore (T6) opened with 63. … Cut was 3-under. … Top 40 10-under or better. … One round OVER par in the top 25 players. … Two players broke into the top 125 (Harris English, Nick Taylor). 2017: Henrik Stenson (-22) Set tournament record (Par-70) as he made his one-shot 54-hole lead stand up. … Opened with 62 and trailed by one to Matt Every. … T8 fairways, T3 GIR, 1st Proximity and T3 Strokes-Gained: Putting. … T2 Par-3 and Par-4 scoring. … Led the field in Birdie-or-Better Percentage. … Won on fourth visit. … Second highest OWGR winner (No. 8) in tournament history behind Hal Sutton (No. 4) in 2000. Notables: Simpson (T3) opened with 63 finished four back. … 36- hole leader Ryan Armour (T4) posted 61 in Round 2, good for co-low round of the week with Every. … Rory Sabbatini (T6) picked up his third top 10 in four starts. … Shane Lowry (T7) was joined by Davis Love III (T10) and Harold Varner III (T10) to round out the top 10. … Cut 3-under. … Top 27 10-under or better. … Four players advance to the FedExCup Playoffs. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. * – Top 10 at Sedgefield since 2015 Rounds in the 60s 1 Mark Hubbard 2 *Sungjae Im 9 Brendon Todd 13 Doc Redman 13 *Brian Harman (T6, 2019) 19 Patrick Rodgers 19 Henrik Norlander 22 Harry Higgs 22 Harris English (never MC in six) 24 Brian Stuard 24 *JT Poston 24 Carlos Ortiz 24 Maverick McNealy 24 Talor Gooch Greens in Regulation 1 *Jim Furyk 2 Kyle Stanley 3 Aaron Wise 5 Corey Conners 7 Russell Henley 8 *Josh Teater 9 Will Gordon 10 *Paul Casey (T3, 2015) 11 Harris English 12 Doc Redman 14 Nick Watney 15 *Brice Garnett 17 Pat Perez 17 Matthew NeSmith 19 Henrik Norlander 24 *Harold Varner III 25 Russell Knox 25 Chesson Hadley Birdie-or-Better Percentage 4 *Webb Simpson 7 Seamus Power 9 *Patrick Reed (2013 winner) 14 Chesson Hadley 16 Anirban Lahiri 17 Will Gordon 22 Bronson Burgoon 25 Maverick McNealy 26 *Sungjae Im 29 Xinjun Zhang 30 Sebastian Munoz 31 Denny McCarthy 32 Danny Lee 33 Peter Uihlein 35 Charl Schwartzel Greenbacks in Greensboro Webb Simpson: 2011 champ has cashed in 10 of 11 with nine top 25s and seven top 10s. Hit the podium the last three seasons and is 57-under over that stretch with all 12 rounds in the red. Scoring average 66.79. Brandt Snedeker: 2018 champ has been paid off in 10 of 12 with six of those in the top 10. Five straight at the event includes three inside T5. Billy Horschel: T5 2016 began a run of four straight weekends and includes T11 2018 and T6 last year. Of 30 rounds career 27 are par or better including the last 19. Ryan Moore: Enters with five straight at Sedgefield under his belt. T10 in 2015 adds to T24 in 2017 plus T6 on his last visit in 2018. Rory Sabbatini: Top 10 results in three of his last four visits but paydays in all of them. Patrick Reed: Never missed in five chances and the last four are all T24 or better including his win. Sergio Garcia: 2012 champ has never cashed worse than T29 in four starts at Sedgefield.

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