Home News Corey Conners wins Valero Texas Open

Corey Conners wins Valero Texas Open

Corey Conners claimed his first PGA Tour victory and earned an invite to the Masters on Sunday, winning the Valero Texas Open less than a week after qualifying.

Corey Conners Wins Valero Texas Open

Conners only entered the tournament field Monday, and he’s the first golfer to win on the PGA Tour after qualifying on a Monday in nine years.

Prior to that, it had been 24 years that a Monday qualifier won on the tour.

Conners made three birdies in the final five holes, shooting a 6-under 66. He was 20-under for the tournament, winning by two shots over Charley Hoffman.

Next stop for Conners: Augusta, Georgia, for this week’s Masters.

PGA Tour Money Earning: Valero Texas Open

Contenders at the Valero Texas Open

Hoffman, the 2016 Texas Open winner, shot 67 for 18-under on the weekend.

Ryan Moore closed with an 8-under 64, a shot off the course record, and was third at 17-under.

Si Woo Kim, The Players Championship winner in 2017, led the opening three rounds but dropped to a tie for fourth with Brian Stuard (15-under) after an even-par 72.

Conners, the 2014 U.S. Amateur runner-up, will play in his second Masters. Two of the top three finishers last year at Augusta missed the top 10 this week. Rickie Fowler was tied for 17th while 10 strokes back at 10-under with a final-round 69, and Jordan Spieth (72) was 7-under.

Stuard finished with 66 to get to 15-under. Kevin Streelman closed with an 8-under 64 and was 14-under. He missed tying the course record when, after four-straight birdies, he hit his approach from the 18th fairway into the gallery and bogeyed.

Wild Round for Conners

It was a wild round for Conners, a Canadian who had not won on any of the PGA Tour’s affiliated circuits. He had 10 birdies and four pars that sandwiched four consecutive bogeys on the front nine.

He had a one-stroke lead when he rammed home a 34-foot birdie putt at No. 12, and stayed a stroke up with a tap-in birdie at the 14th.

Moore joined Conners at the top of the leaderboard with an 8-foot putt at No. 16 that was his fourth birdie in five holes.

Moore missed a birdie opportunity on the next hole when he couldn’t convert on a putt from inside 10 feet. Minutes later, Conners sank a 10-footer to save par at No. 15, then hit to four feet to set up a birdie at the 175-yard par-3 16th. His birdie at No. 17 gave him a three-shot lead walking up the final hole.

Conners Finishes Strong

Conners looked like he would tuck this one away early. He birdied four of the first five holes at TPC San Antonio. Trailing by a shot going in the final round, he benefited from a three-stroke swing on the leaderboard on the third hole with a 10-foot putt on the par-3. Kim hit into the water fronting the green and double-bogeyed. Later in the day, Kim was grabbing at his right upper body with an apparent injury.

Conners was two strokes ahead, and with birdies on the next two holes he led by four over both Kim and Hoffman.

But Conners bogeyed the next four, and three of those came after tee shots put him in nice position either from the middle of the fairway or close to it.

The other bogey, on a par-3 at No. 7, he hit his tee shot into a bunker, then blasted over the green.

He made the turn and clicked off three consecutive birdies. The last player to qualify on Monday and win a PGA Tour event was Arjun Atwal in 2010 at the Wyndham Championship.

Conners only entered the tournament after winning a Monday qualifier. He earned $1.35 million and 500 FedEx Cup points for the victory, as well.

Here are the complete results and player earnings for the players who made the 36-hole cut in the Valero Texas Open.

Valero Texas Open Results

POS PLAYER TO PAR R1 R2 R3 R4 TOT EARNINGS FEDEX PTS
1 Corey Conners -20 69 67 66 66 268 $1,350,000.00 500
2 Charley Hoffman -18 71 68 64 67 270 $810,000.00 300
3 Ryan Moore -17 68 70 69 64 271 $510,000.00 190
T4 Brian Stuard -15 67 70 70 66 273 $330,000.00 123
T4 Si Woo Kim -15 66 66 69 72 273 $330,000.00 123
6 Kevin Streelman -14 72 69 69 64 274 $270,000.00 100
T7 Graeme McDowell -12 69 69 72 66 276 $203,036.00 75
T7 Byeong-Hun An -12 69 68 73 66 276 $203,036.00 75
T7 Jason Kokrak -12 70 73 65 68 276 $203,036.00 75
T7 Matt Kuchar -12 69 71 67 69 276 $203,036.00 75
T7 Danny Lee -12 68 72 66 70 276 $203,036.00 75
T7 Adam Schenk -12 70 66 70 70 276 $203,036.00 75
T7 Scott Brown -12 71 67 67 71 276 $203,036.00 75
T14 Zack Fischer -11 71 69 71 66 277 $135,000.00 0
T14 Lucas Glover -11 72 70 66 69 277 $135,000.00 55
T14 Kyoung-Hoon Lee -11 69 67 69 72 277 $135,000.00 55
T17 Cameron Tringale -10 69 74 68 67 278 $112,500.00 49
T17 Rickie Fowler -10 68 68 73 69 278 $112,500.00 49
T17 Hank Lebioda -10 68 70 70 70 278 $112,500.00 49
T20 Sung-jae Im -9 73 69 68 69 279 $90,500.00 43
T20 Wyndham Clark -9 69 73 70 67 279 $90,500.00 43
T20 Scottie Scheffler -9 71 68 70 70 279 $90,500.00 0
T23 Scott Stallings -8 68 69 73 70 280 $63,214.00 34
T23 Jim Furyk -8 70 72 68 70 280 $63,214.00 34
T23 Fabian Gomez -8 73 67 70 70 280 $63,214.00 34
T23 Harold Varner III -8 70 66 73 71 280 $63,214.00 34
T23 Peter Malnati -8 71 68 70 71 280 $63,214.00 34
T23 Jose de Jesus Rodriguez -8 71 70 68 71 280 $63,214.00 34
T23 Sam Burns -8 72 69 73 66 280 $63,214.00 34
T30 Jonas Blixt -7 72 70 69 70 281 $45,562.00 24
T30 Matt Jones -7 69 68 74 70 281 $45,562.00 24
T30 Aaron Baddeley -7 71 70 69 71 281 $45,562.00 24
T30 Jordan Spieth -7 68 68 73 72 281 $45,562.00 24
T30 Jimmy Walker -7 70 69 69 73 281 $45,562.00 24
T30 Jhonattan Vegas -7 67 71 67 76 281 $45,562.00 24
T36 Beau Hossler -6 69 70 71 72 282 $34,562.00 18
T36 Andrew Putnam -6 72 70 68 72 282 $34,562.00 18
T36 Martin Laird -6 74 68 68 72 282 $34,562.00 18
T36 Ollie Schniederjans -6 70 71 69 72 282 $34,562.00 18
T36 Rory Sabbatini -6 69 68 72 73 282 $34,562.00 18
T36 Kristoffer Ventura -6 71 72 70 69 282 $34,562.00 0
T42 Abraham Ancer -5 67 72 71 73 283 $23,040.00 11
T42 Max Homa -5 68 74 68 73 283 $23,040.00 11
T42 Mackenzie Hughes -5 70 71 69 73 283 $23,040.00 11
T42 Sam Ryder -5 73 66 73 71 283 $23,040.00 11
T42 Dylan Frittelli -5 71 72 69 71 283 $23,040.00 11
T42 Adam Svensson -5 73 69 71 70 283 $23,040.00 11
T42 Brendan Steele -5 70 72 67 74 283 $23,040.00 11
T42 Martin Kaymer -5 72 71 70 70 283 $23,040.00 11
T42 Sung Kang -5 70 73 71 69 283 $23,040.00 11
T42 Sam Saunders -5 72 71 71 69 283 $23,040.00 11
T52 Nick Taylor -4 69 72 71 72 284 $17,490.00 7
T52 Li Haotong -4 70 70 73 71 284 $17,490.00 0
T52 Russell Henley -4 71 72 70 71 284 $17,490.00 7
T52 Kyle Stanley -4 70 70 74 70 284 $17,490.00 7
T52 Kyle Jones -4 76 67 71 70 284 $17,490.00 7
T57 Josh Teater -3 69 68 75 73 285 $16,725.00 5
T57 Ernie Els -3 71 69 74 71 285 $16,725.00 5
T57 Roberto Diaz -3 68 71 75 71 285 $16,725.00 5
T57 Ryan Armour -3 69 71 75 70 285 $16,725.00 5
T61 Richy Werenski -2 72 71 69 74 286 $16,275.00 5
T61 Tony Finau -2 72 71 70 73 286 $16,275.00 5
T63 Joost Luiten -1 72 69 70 76 287 $15,900.00 0
T63 Jim Knous -1 70 67 74 76 287 $15,900.00 4
T63 Robert Streb -1 72 70 73 72 287 $15,900.00 4
66 Martin Trainer E 73 70 72 73 288 $15,600.00 4
T67 J.T. Poston +1 67 74 74 74 289 $15,375.00 4
T67 Morgan Hoffmann +1 68 75 72 74 289 $15,375.00 4
T69 Joel Dahmen +2 70 73 67 80 290 $15,075.00 3
T69 K.J. Choi +2 73 69 72 76 290 $15,075.00 3
– Hunter Mahan E 70 71 75 — 216 $14,550.00 3
– J.B. Holmes E 69 73 74 — 216 $14,550.00 3
– Padraig Harrington E 72 71 73 — 216 $14,550.00 3
– Chip McDaniel E 74 69 73 — 216 $14,550.00 0
– Vaughn Taylor E 70 73 73 — 216 $14,550.00 3
– Trey Mullinax +1 71 72 74 — 217 $14,100.00 2
– Ted Potter Jr. +3 68 73 78 — 219 $13,800.00 2
– Brian Gay +3 71 72 76 — 219 $13,800.00 2
– Anders Albertson +3 73 70 76 — 219 $13,800.00 2
– Curtis Luck +6 73 68 81 — 222 $13,500.00 2

 

This article was first published on Golf Week