Hal Sutton fired a three-under-par 69 in windy conditions to win the PGA
Houston Open by three strokes from fellow Americans Lee Janzen and Joe Durant.
Sutton finished at 10-under-par on 278 at the Woodlands course to win his
first title of the season.
``I feel quite fortunate to finish on top,'' Sutton said.
Only 15 of 73 players beat par in tricky breezes and both Janzen - who fired a
73 - and Durant, - the leader after the third round who carded a 74 - both
faltered on the 7,018-yard course which averaged 73.96 strokes in the final
round.
Sutton started the day two strokes behind Durant but birdied the first two
holes and had at least a share of the lead the rest of the day.
Sutton, the runner-up here in 1999 and 1994, sank a 30-foot put to salvage a
bogey at the seventh hole.
``You have got to show a lot of patience on a day like this and I was able to
do this,'' Sutton said.
Durant was trying to match Tiger Woods with his third victory of the year but
followed an opening birdie, his only one of the day, with a pair of bogeys.
Briton Nick Faldo had an amazing round shooting six birdies, but a
quadruple-bogey on the short third and two further dropped shots saw him finish
the day with a level-par 72 for a total of 287 - in joint 22nd place.
Collated scores after the final round of the PGA Houston Open, Texas (USA unless
stated, Par 72):
278 H Sutton 70 68 71 69
281 J Durant 67 69 71 74, L Janzen 67 68 73 73
282 J Cook 69 72 72 69, J Leonard 71 70 72 69
283 L Mattiace 72 69 73 69, B Mayfair 70 72 71 70, V Singh (Fij) 73 70 69 71
284 D Toms 73 68 73 70, B Ferguson (Aus) 72 71 68 73, K Sutherland 69 69 72
74, C DiMarco 69 70 71 74
285 S Cink 73 70 71 71, J Edwards 70 69 73 73, B Gay 74 70 68 73
286 D Frost (Rsa) 72 72 71 71, C Riley 71 71 72 72, M Dawson 71 69 73 73, M
Dawson 71 69 73 73, P Blackmar 70 72 71 73, P Gow 73 72 68 73, S Hoch 72 72 67
75
287 S Maruyama (Jpn) 73 72 72 70, N Faldo (Gbr) 75 70 70 72, C Franco (Par) 72
71 68 76
289 E Toledo (Par) 71 73 69 76
290 G Chalmers (Aus) 71 72 74 73, B Hughes (Aus) 71 72 74 73
291 K Yokoo (Jpn) 69 76 75 71, S Ames (Tri) 72 71 75 73
294 A Scott (Aus) 68 73 77 76, K.J. Choi (Kor) 73 71 74 76, R Allenby (Aus) 69
74 70 81
AFP
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