D.A. Points came back from a long rain delay and made four pars, the last one giving him a one-shot victory in the Houston Open at Humble, Texas, and a trip to the Masters.
With a putter he once borrowed from his mother and never returned, Points rolled in a putt from just outside 12 feet on the final hole to polish off a 6-under 66 and avoid a sudden-death playoff with Masters-bound Henrik Stenson and Billy Horschel.
It was quite a turnaround for Points, whose only other PGA Tour win was at Pebble Beach two years ago with actor Billy Murray along for the laughs.
He started the year by missing the cut seven times in nine tournaments.
He arrived at Redstone Golf Club having not broken 70 in his last nine rounds. But he stayed in the hunt after opening with a 64, and he kept his calm when he returned to the golf course after a rain delay of nearly three hours.
“Thank you for staying,” Points said to the sparse gallery in the bleachers as he walked off the green.
Stenson birdied his last two holes for a 66 before the storms rolled across Houston, and while he came up one shot short, he moved up to No. 42 in the world ranking to earn an invitation to the Masters.
Horschel was on the 18th tee when play was halted, and then had to wait some more for his turn to hit on the tough driving hole.
He split the middle, found the green and two-putted for par to join Stenson in the clubhouse lead.
They waited around for a playoff that wasn’t necessary when Points saved par on his last two holes.
“I’ve been having a really tough year,” Points said. “To have a putt to win, you want that starting out every week. I would have liked for it to have been closer.”
Points picked up his final birdie on the par-5 13th when the hole got in the way of his chip and kept the ball from running well past. It instead stopped 3 feet away.
Then, he made it hard on himself.
His 5-iron to the 17th came up well short, and Points hit a beautiful pitch-and run to tap-in range for his par.
On the final hole, his hybrid began to sail right of the green toward the bunkers, but it caught just enough of the grass to stand up in the rough.
He played a peculiar shot, lobbing the pitch instead of playing it closer to the ground, and the ball came up well short on the rain-softened green.
The putt dropped into the left corner, and Points screamed so loud it could be heard over the sparse applause.
Suddenly, his year is looking up.
He finished at 16-under 272, and the win gives him another two-year exemption.
His exemption from the Pebble Beach would have expired this year. More important, the win gets him back to Augusta National in two weeks.
Ogilvy last year fell one shot short of ending the year in the top 50 and assuring his spot at Augusta.
Howell is not playing the Texas Open, either.
Hend wins in Asia
Australian Scott Hend won the inaugural Chiangmai Golf Classic in Thailand after a final-round 64 to beat South African Bryce Easton by three strokes at the Alpine Golf Resort.
Hend started the round six shots off the lead. But he had eight birdies, an eagle on the fourth hole and two bogeys for a 20-under 268 to earn his third Asian Tour victory.
Ernie Els of South Africa and Y.E. Yang of South Korea faltered in the final round, shooting 70 and 73, respectively.
Els finished tied for 14th, with Yang a shot behind tied in 20th place.