Troy Matteson won a three-way playoff
with Rickie Fowler and Jamie Lovemark after bogeying the final hole in
regulation Sunday at the Frys.com Open.
The trio returned to No. 18 for the first extra hole, where Lovemark got an
enormous break. His approach splashed out of the pond right of the green and
into the rough. From there, he chipped to four feet.
Matteson and Fowler both two-putted for par from over 40 feet out. Lovemark
knocked in his par-saving putt, and the threesome headed to the 17th.
"I saw it skip. I hit a wedge and I just didn't quite release it enough, and
it kind of hung out to the right," Lovemark explained about his approach to
18. "Troy made a great shot on 17 and sealed our fate."
On the second playoff hole, Matteson stuffed his approach to within two feet.
After Fowler got up and down for par and Lovemark two-putted for his par,
Matteson tapped in for birdie and his second PGA Tour title.
"This is unbelievable. You just don't think it is coming sometimes," said
Matteson, who collected $900,000 for the win. "It's just undescribable this
week. Playing as bad as I did on Thursday, and then having the last three days
go the way they did, I'm just beside myself."
Matteson closed with a two-under 68, while Fowler and Lovemark both fired six-
under 64s. The three completed 72 holes at 18-under-par 262, matching the
tournament's 72-hole scoring record, set last year by Kevin Sutherland and
2008 playoff winner Cameron Beckman.
Tim Clark, who remained winless in 195 career PGA Tour starts, shot three-
under 67 and shared fourth place with Bill Lunde (66) at minus-16 at Grayhawk
Golf Club.
Matteson and Fowler battled for the lead most of the round. Fowler opened with
back-to-back birdies to move to 14-under, where he was two shots behind
Matteson.
Fowler closed to within one with a two-putt birdie on the par-five fourth. He
followed that with a hole-in-one on No. 5 to leap one shot ahead of Matteson.
Matteson responded with a 20-foot eagle putt on the fourth to re-gain the lead
at 18-under. He tapped in a three-footer for birdie on the sixth but gave that
stroke right back with a three-putt bogey on seven.
Fowler tripped to a bogey of his own on the ninth to slide two back. However,
he poured in a 21-foot birdie effort at the 10th and followed with a kick-in
birdie on 11 to grab a piece of the lead at 18-under.
The 21-year-old Fowler took the lead from Matteson with an eight-foot birdie
putt on 12. However, he tripped to a bogey on 13, and Matteson rolled in an
eight-footer for birdie at 11 to exchange the lead.
Fowler briefly forged a tie at 19-under with a 32-foot birdie putt on 14, but
Matteson tapped in a three-foot birdie try on the 12th to move one ahead at
minus-20.
Meanwhile, Lovemark was making his move. He birdied the first and second but
stumbled to a bogey on the eighth. Around the turn, he birdied four of five
holes from the 11th to jump to 17-under.
After three straight pars, Fowler found a greenside bunker at the last with
his second. He blasted into the rough just off the edge of the green, then
nearly holed his chip for par. Fowler settled for a bogey and was the first
one in at 18-under.
"I'm pretty excited about the week. If you would have told me I was going be
in a playoff with a chance to win Sunday afternoon, I would have jumped on
that in a heartbeat," Fowler admitted. "I went out and got off to a great
start this morning. Topped that off with a hole-in-one at five, so that was
pretty special."
Lovemark parred 16 and 17 before rolling a clutch birdie putt on the 18th to
join Fowler at minus-18.
"A little disappointed. There's not much I can do," Lovemark stated. "I'm
going to first stage (of PGA Tour Q School) tonight in Pinehurst, so I'm going
try and get ready for that and rested to start Tuesday."
It was all up to Matteson, who was going for his second PGA Tour win. He
missed the fairway off the tee at 17, and that led to a bogey. Matteson led by
one heading to the last but found a greenside bunker with his approach.
Matteson blasted to 10 feet but missed the par putt. Despite giving up the
lead in regulation, he battled back to win the playoff.
The win also helped Matteson move from 131st on the money list to inside the
top 60. He also gets his PGA Tour card for two more years with the victory.
Fowler will bypass the first stage of PGA Tour Q School this week and will
head to Mississippi for next week's Viking Classic.
"[After the Viking], I'm not sure if I'm going get into second, possibly third
stage. The plans are still to go to Q-School," stated Fowler, who needs to
earn as much money as the player ranked 125th on the money list to earn his
tour card for next year without going to Q School. "I'm going go into next
week with the same game plan I did those last two. Seemed to work out pretty
well these last two weeks, so we'll see what happens next week."
Mike Weir matched the course record with his nine-under 61 Sunday. He shared
sixth place at 15-under-265 with Bryce Molder (63).
Heath Slocum (67) ended alongside Alex Cejka (64), Ryan Moore (69), Chris
Stroud (70) and Nicholas Thompson (68) in eighth at minus-13.
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