BlogWho will win in San Antonio on Sunday?

Things you need to know before Sunday’s final round:

Another week, another unknown leading on the PGA Tour:

• Guess after having Adam Scott lead going into the final round last week at Bay Hill it was time to get back to the routine of the PGA Tour, an unknown leading going into the final round.  Every week it seems to be a drill in which we have to dive deep into the media guide and the internet to find out information about who is leading.  This week it’s another journeyman Steven Bowditch, a 30 year-old Australian journeyman who has bounced around the world looking for fame and fortune only to find frustration and hardship.   In the win department his resume is a bit bare other than a couple of Web.com tour events and winning the New South Wales PGA in 2010 and the 2004 Queensland Open.  Things didn’t start out that way as he was runner-up in the 2000 World Junior and then a couple of months later as a 17-year-old was among the leaders in the Australian Open and found himself paired with his boyhood hero Greg Norman in the final round.  He went on to shot 75 and finish T7th.
• Bowditch started playing the game at 12 when his father wouldn’t let him play rugby because it was too rough.  While he was finding himself as a player, he made some extra money as a cement mixer in Australia.  In 2005 the Web.com tour started it’s year off in Australia and New Zealand, Bowditch won the Jacob’s Creek Open held in Australia.  He was just 21 years, 8 months old to become the second youngest winner in that tour’s history.  It was just his second start on the Web.com tour and it granted him an exemption for that tour.  The next week he lost in New Zealand in a playoff against Peter O’Malley.  Bowditch had another runner-up finish that year and finished 4th on the money list, which got him onto the PGA Tour in 2006.  Things haven’t really been very rosy on the PGA tour as he played it in ’06, then between 2011 and now without much success, only finishing in the top-125 of the money list once last year.  Things have been so bare, in 109 starts has had only two top-ten finishes, the best being a runner-up finish last year in the Greenbrier Classic.

So how did Bowditch do it?

It’s a real big mystery, statistically he ranks T45th in fairways hit, T16th in greens hit, 49th in strokes gained putting, 50th in proximity to the hole in approach shots and 63rd in total putts made.  His only good stat, which is the reason he is leading is scrambling, he is fourth and on Saturday he chipped in twice.  One thing that he has done right is not get himself in trouble, he has only made three bogeys and one double all week and most of this damage has come on the 9th hole in which he bogeyed twice and had a double bogey on Friday.

So is this cut and dry, look for a 75 out of Bowditch on Sunday?

Normally I would say yes, it’s going to be a very nervous afternoon for Bowditch.  He has a lot riding, a two year exemption on the PGA Tour, a last minute invite to Augusta but overall a different lifestyle.  Bowditch said that one of the keys to his life is being more mature now, he could be a late bloomer.  On the surface it seems unfathomable that he is leading and will win, but when you see the list of winners of late, guess that anything is possible on the PGA Tour these days.  One thing to think about, Bowditch does have a three shot lead over Matt Kuchar and Andrew Loupe, four over Pat Perez, five over Kevin Na and six over Daniel Summerhays and Chad Collins.  These aren’t powerhouse players on tour and other than Kuchar and possibly Perez and Na I can’t see anybody else making a run.  Still we have seen some weird finishes on the PGA Tour this year and you never know who could back into a win.

If not Bowditch, who?

Everybody will look at Matt Kuchar who is T2nd at 9 under par three back of Bowditch.  Kuchar had a 65 on Saturday to get him into the race, to some this could be a bad sign in which it’s hard to have two great rounds in a row.  His year has been a mixed bag with four top-tens but if you go off the experience factor, of those within six shots of him he has the most experience at winning.  I also think that Pat Perez and Kevin Na could make runs, both have played well of late, both are hungry for wins and both could easily stumble into a win if Bowditch and Kuchar do stumble on Sunday.

Anything else on the line Sunday?

Masters invites, this is the last week in which anyone that finds his way into the top-50 of the world rankings can grab a last minute invite.  Right now Ryan Palmer sits 62nd in the rankings and if he was to finish in the top-three he would move into the top-50 and be Augusta bound.  Palmer is T8th at 5 under, now he is seven back of Bowditch but just four back of the top-three.  A round of 68, 69 could do the trick for him.  Another person that should be on our radar scope is Chesson Hadley at 3 under par. He is 56th in the world rankings and a top-seven finish would do the trick for him.  He is presently T14th only three shots back of those in the top-six, he probably needs at least a 67 on Sunday to do the trick

So it’s just ten days away from the Masters, what’s this talk of a Masters without both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson?

Both are real possibilities as back problems have them ailing.  Mickelson had to withdraw during the third round and we should know more of his faith Tuesday or Wednesday.  He is planning on playing in Houston so we should know something.  Rumors are floating around about Tiger’s situation, of course since Tiger never opens up on things we just don’t know.  So it’s pure speculation on what’s up with Tiger.

Below is a list of the top-20 players on the leader board going to three under which are 9 shots back of Bowditch: