FINAL TICKET PUNCHED TO 2018 MASTERS

When Ian Poulter stood on the 12th tee Sunday afternoon at the Golf Club of Houston, he was four under par for the day and held a three shot lead over playing companion Beau Hossler. Poulter was playing flawless golf and had hit every green in regulation. He was seven holes from winning his first stroke play event in the United States and his first victory of any kind since 2012. With a pair of par fives left it didn’t appear that any of his challengers would be able to mount the kind of charge necessary to keep the 42 year-old Englishman from making a return appearance to Augusta to compete in next week’s Masters Tournament. As he prepared for his tee shot on the par three 16th hole, Poulter had made four consecutive pars, including the par fives at 13 and 15 and fallen a shot behind red hot Hossler, who was coming off four straight birdies. Suddenly, the prospects for Poulter to be playing for a green jacket was in serious jeopardy. A pair of pars on the next two holes only matched Hossler, leaving only the difficult par four 18th, where a scant five players had recorded birdies the entire day.

Hossler’s drive found the fairway bunker, giving Poulter some hope, but both players ended up on the green a couple of feet apart, facing long birdie putts. The closer ball belonged to Poulter and he watched as Hossler’s putt barely missed on the right side of the hole. Always a clutch putter, especially in Ryder Cup competition, Poulter had a good look at the line of Hossler’s putt and stood over his ball with one last shot at forcing a playoff and keeping his Masters’ hopes alive. Benefitting from the read, he ran the ball into the center of the hole, beating his chest over his tremendous heart and headed to the scorer’s tent before taking a golf cart to the 18th tee for the first playoff hole. Unlike the first time the pair played the hole, Poulter was first to play and put his drive in the fairway, putting a bit of pressure on his 23 year-old opponent. Hossler again found the fairway bunker and missed the green in the right sand trap, while Poulter put his ball comfortably on the green. With a tough lie in the bunker, Hossler knew he had to get the shot close to the hole to force a second playoff hole. He watched helplessly, however as his shot from the sand sailed over the green and into the water on the other side of the hole.

The finish was somewhat anticlimactic with Hossler finally getting his ball into the hole with a triple bogey seven, while Poulter routinely two-putted for par to record his third PGA Tour victory to go along with 10 wins on the European Tour. He became the 87th and last player to qualify for the Masters, making him the sixth player in the last 10 Houston Opens to punch his ticket for Augusta with a win at the tournament. What made the win even more remarkable was that Poulter was in 123rd place after an opening round 73, causing him to pack his bags Thursday night in anticipation of missing the cut. But a 64 on Friday followed by a third round 65 put him atop the leaderboard for Sunday’s final round. It was only 12th time and the last 1,463 tour events that a player had come from worse than 100th place to win a tournament. Poulter hasn’t been in great form of late, but with momentum on his side, could a run at his first major be out of the question next week?

Hear my recent interview with legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg, where we discussed his agency, concussions, franchise relocation and philanthropy at http://thechtonsports.com/cold-hard-truth-sports-radio-show-1242017/

Also listen to our conversation with author and sports journalist Mike Carey, as we discussed his latest book "Bad News" about Marvin Barnes and reminisced about Mike's coverage of the Boston Celtics during their glory years with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge and Robert Parish. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/golongmedia/2017/02/08/the-cold-hard-truth-on-sports-radio-show

Don't forget to check out my new book, "Offsetting Penalties - A PK Frazier Novel" at  Amazon.com. Also check out www.thechtonsports.com for our podcasts and live broadcast on Tuesday's at 8:30 pm EST. I can also be reached via email at kevin@pkfrazier.com.