Dustin Johnson withdraws from Valero Texas Open

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - He's back. After enduring a winless streak that stretched nearly four years, to the 2017 Open Championship, Jordan Spieth birdies two of his first three holes to get his nose out front, finally hits some fairways - 10 of 14, his best of the week - and cards a final-round 66 to win the Valero Texas Open by two over Charley Hoffman (66) and four over Matt Wallace (70). Here are five things you may have missed from the Valero Texas Open.. 1. Spieth slump officially over. "I probably didn’t feel like I needed this win," Spieth said after an emotional 18th hole embrace with his wife Annie Verret. "I felt like other people needed this win." OK. But maybe everyone needed it. Whatever the case, Spieth, who could do no wrong early in his career - especially in his FedExCup winning season in 2015 - broke a drought that went back 82 starts. He started to tear up on the 18th green, especially when wife Annie came running toward him for a celebratory hug and kiss. The win was the first since they've been married. "There's peaks and valleys in this sport," Spieth said, "but I never expected to go this long." His slump was even more painful for the spotlight he was under, the result of his staggering early successes that vaulted him to No. 1 in the world. He dutifully answered all the questions thrown at him even though, as he said Sunday, it seemed sort of unfair that no one kept asking Hoffman or Wallace or 95 percent of the other players on TOUR why they hadn't won in a while. The superstars, of course, are in a class all their own, and Spieth and his caddie Michael Greller tried to use that fact to their advantage in the final round at TPC San Antonio. "Michael did a great job today of telling me - he was like, ‘Look, Matt and Charley, these guys are playing for a lot more than you’re playing for. Whatever you’re feeling, they’re feeling more. Charley’s trying to get in next week, Matt’s trying to get a job, you know, TOUR card. These guys have a lot more to play for than you, and we’re trying to make progress for (the Masters) next week.'" The mind game worked well enough; Spieth, whose victories have often been a roller-coaster ride, held steady on the back nine. It was the fifth time in his last six stroke-play starts - starting with a T4 in Phoenix in February - that he has been in the top 10 through 36 holes. And he continued to say he's pleased with the improvements, but still not totally satisfied, recalling the old quote attributed to O. Henry on New York City: "It'll be a great place if they ever finish it." Said Spieth, who will be amongst the favorites at the Masters Tournament this week, "I really didn't have great control of the ball this weekend at all." Case in point: He finished T78 in driving accuracy for the week - out of 78 players who made the cut. He moves to 10-for-19 with the 54-hole lead/co-lead in his TOUR career. He also joins Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas as the only players to have won 12 or more times before turning 28. For more on Spieth, click here. 2. Hoffman back in his element. Charley Hoffman, who shot a final-round 66 to finish solo second, was back in his element at the Valero. Since 2006, he led everyone in the field in top-five finishes (six), top-10s (six), top-25s (11), cuts made (15) and score to par (99 under). He won the 2016 Valero. With that kind of pedigree, it was no great surprise Saturday when the four-time TOUR winner Hoffman, 44, played the final seven holes in 6 under par as he shot 65 to reach 10 under par. He would go into the final round just two back of Spieth and Wallace and would keep the heat on the winner until the end. Needing an eagle at the par-5 finishing hole, Hoffman made par. "It fits my eye," he said of the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio. "You’ve got to shape tee shots. You’ve got to be in certain spots hitting iron shots into the green." Although he chipped in for birdie at the 13th hole, he couldn't produce quite enough fireworks to scare the leader, settling for pars on three of the last four holes. "Yeah, I’ve lost golf tournaments, I’ve won golf tournaments," said Hoffman, who moved from 54th to 27th in the FedExCup, "but today Jordan won the golf tournament."" 3. Wallace has eyes on America. Matt Wallace, a four-time winner on the European Tour, is a global player whose FedExCup finish last season (134th) gets him into some tournaments, but not all. The Englishman got a sponsor's exemption into the Valero and made the most of it with a final-round 70 and a solo third. Although he putted poorly Sunday, especially on the front nine, it was the best career finish on TOUR for Wallace, who finished T3 at the 2019 PGA Championship. It was also a major step up this season; his best heading into the Valero was a T18 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Now he's aiming to get into more tournaments on TOUR, an objective that will be more easily met if he can crack the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking (he was 60th going into the Valero). "It’s difficult with COVID at the moment," Wallace said. "A lot of the players on the PGA TOUR are playing a lot and it doesn’t drop down to where it used to drop down with my category being just outside the Top‑125. Obviously playing here off an invite, which I’m very grateful for, and a couple other invites I’ve had through top‑50 in the world. Just slipped outside of that at the moment. "So hopefully I can take care of that and then the schedule will clear up," he added. "Whenever I get a chance to play in Europe, I’ll take that if it works on the schedule, but popping back and forth for me just doesn’t seem right. ... It’s looking likely that I’ll be over here for the foreseeable future for now." 4. Stadler: ‘I've been in a deep, dark hole.' Asked how he remains upbeat amid his slump, Kevin Stadler didn't mince words. "I don’t at all," he said, laughing, after signing for a second-round 70 to get to 5 under par, four back halfway through the Valero. "I fight like hell to do that." He would fall back with a final-round 76 to finish T54, which was disappointing, but it didn't change the fact that he had made the cut for just the second time in his last 24 starts on TOUR. The oldest son of 1982 Masters champion and 13-time TOUR winner Craig Stadler, Kevin had enjoyed a steady upward trajectory since his days at USC. He won the Colorado Open and on the Korn Ferry Tour (four times) before his breakout win at the 2014 Waste Management Phoenix Open. That got him into the Masters, where he finished T8. It's his most recent top-10 finish. A broken bone in his left hand started Stadler's swoon in 2015, and although it healed - he now says he's 100% healthy - bad habits took over. His confidence suffered. Last season, playing on a Major Medical Extension, he missed 10 cuts in 10 starts with just one round in the 60s. Stadler's T77 at the Farmers Insurance Open in January offered a glimmer of hope. At TPC San Antonio, he said, he still missed fairways, but not by a lot, and he has always liked hard courses. "I’ve been in a deep, dark hole for quite a while now and just been clawing away trying to get it back," he said. "I know what I’m capable of if I can make it happen. It’s just been a long, long time. It’s been extremely difficult, but just trying to plug away and make it work again." At least he's got more time to do so. Due to COVID 19, players on medical extensions last season were allowed to negate starts made from the beginning of the 2019-20 season through the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Stadler had missed nine of nine cuts in that span.t. 5. Van Rooyen finally clicking. South Africa's Erik van Rooyen, who shot a final-round 71 to finish T14 at the Valero, was until recently having a season to forget. He shot an opening-round 76 and withdrew with back pain at the Masters in November. Then, after the holidays, came missed the cuts at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Farmers Insurance Open and Waste Management Phoenix Open. Coming into the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, where van Rooyen was the 62nd seed, his best result was a T20 at the Vivint Houston Open. But he found something in Austin, getting out of group play before losing to Jon Rahm in the round of 16. Van Rooyen's T9 finish was his best result this season. "Yeah, the start of the year was nothing to write home about, that’s for sure," he said from The Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio. "I don’t know. I think I’m - everything’s just ticking rather nicely. "... You can get kind of hard on yourself sometimes, but you’ve got to stay patient, you know, and trust yourself, trust the process," he continued. "It’s so cliche, but it’s the truth." COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10

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NORTON, Mass. – Abraham Ancer enters Monday’s final round of the Dell Technologies Championship with a one-shot lead. It’s just the second time in 49 career PGA TOUR starts that he’s held or shared a 54-hole lead. The only other time came earlier this season when he was the co-leader with Francesco Molinari after three rounds of the Quicken Loans National. Molinari went on to win while Ancer shot a final-round 72 to finish in a tie for fourth. He thinks that experience – and seeing how Molinari converted the lead into a victory — should serve him well on Monday as he chases his first PGA TOUR win. “He ended up playing an awesome round,â€� Ancer said. “Completely flawless. But I’m just going to draw back on that and see what I did wrong and what I did good and just focus on that, just have a good time, play some good golf tomorrow and have some fun.â€� TARGET NUMBER Since the introduction of the FedExCup Playoffs, the winner of the Dell Technologies Championship has finished between 15 and 22 under par. Ancer will start the final round at 13 under. “I know coming into the week that the average winning score was around 17,â€� said one of his chasers, Tyrrell Hatton. “We’ll see what conditions are like tomorrow. If they’re fairly similar, for sure, scores will be fairly low again.â€� PROTECTING AT TPC BOSTON Five times in the history of the Dell Technologies Championship has the 54-hole leader/co-leader gone on to win. PROTECTING THIS SEASON Third-round leaders/co-leaders have won 28 times this season. The most recent came last week when Bryson DeChambeau converted his four-shot lead after 54 holes into his first win in the FedExCup Playoffs.

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SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Seamus Power did enough right and left all the mistakes to PGA TOUR rookie Ben Griffin on Sunday to win the Butterfield Bermuda Championship for his second TOUR title. Power took the lead for good with a 25-foot birdie putt at the 14th. A bogey on the final hole gave the Irishman a 1-under 70 and a one-shot victory over Thomas Detry, who earlier had holed a bunker shot on the 18th for birdie and a 67. But it was Griffin who had the best chance. Just more than a year after Griffin was working as a loan officer, he had a shot at winning on the PGA TOUR and going to the Masters. He started the back nine at Port Royal with back-to-back birdies, putting him at 5 under for the day and with a two-shot lead over Power. And then it all fell apart. Griffin bogeyed four straight holes, followed by a double bogey on the par-3 16th that effectively ended his chances. The turning point came at the 14th when Griffin hooked his tee shot, had to take a penalty drop and make his third straight bogey, while Power holed his birdie putt for a two-shot swing and his first lead of the day. Both made bogey on the 15th. Griffin hit a hard draw into a strong wind that went into the hazard above the Atlantic Ocean, leading to another penalty drop and another missed putt for a double bogey. “This course was always going to be a tale of two sides,” Power said. “I knew it was going to be hard coming in and it was. I’m delighted to get it done.” Power won last year at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky, held the same week as The Open Championship. This victory moves him to No. 32 in the world. He came into Bermuda at No. 48, the highest-ranked player in the field. After making four straight bogeys and then a double bogey, Griffin used iron off the tee on the par-5 17th and watched it run through the fairway and into the water. He took his third penalty drop in four holes, though at least managed a par. Power went just over the green and chipped to 3 feet for birdie, giving him a two-shot lead over Detry and room for error playing the last hole. “It was a fun week. I hate to finish the tournament the way I did,” said Griffin, who shot 72 and tied for third with Patrick Rodgers (65) and Kevin Yu (67). “As I gain more experience, I’m going to get more comfortable.” Griffin and Power were tied going into the final round, and it was Griffin who seized control early with four birdies in the opening six holes. He looked like a winner when he rolled in birdie putts on the 10th and 11th to extend his lead to two shots. But he missed a 6-foot par putt on the 12th, and he missed a 4-foot par putt on the next hole, and it only got tougher from there. Aaron Baddeley, who got in as a Monday qualifier, was in the mix until a pair of late bogeys. He still tied for sixth and was among those who earned spots next week in Mexico for finishing in the top 10. Tennessee freshman Caleb Surratt shot a 64 to make the cut. He followed that with an 85 in the third round, only to improve by 20 shots with a 65 on Sunday.

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