PGA TOUR: Stroud finishes in top 10 after 2-under round

Published 11:25 pm Sunday, February 10, 2019

Another week on the PGA Tour, another solid performance for Chris Stroud and another major move upward on the FedEx Cup points list.

Stroud, on yet another frigid day highlighted by a hailstorm that delayed play for over an hour, fashioned a closing 2-under-par 70 to finish at 10-under 277. That left him in a tie for 10th in the AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm and triggered a FedEx leap from 115 to 75.

Last week, before he carved out a T7 in the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Stroud was buried at No. 195. He’ll compete a stretch of five consecutive tournaments next week in the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.

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Phil Mickelson, though he had to wait 15 hours to sink his final putt, walked away a three-stroke winner at 19-under-268. Mickelson and Paul Casey, who had started Sunday’s round with a three-shot lead, had to play the final two holes Monday morning after play was suspended by darkness.

Mickelson finished par-birdie for a closing 65. It was his fifth time to win the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, tying him with Mark O’Meara for the most wins in that tournament. Casey closed with a 71 to place second at 271.

Stroud, meanwhile, headed to LA with much to feel good about, including back-to-back top 10 finishes in stroke play events for the first time since early in 2012. He finished T5 in the Mayakoba Classic, then followed up with a T9 at the Honda Classic the first week in March.

With temperatures in the mid 40s for much of Sunday, and the wind chill in the 30s, Stroud put together a round that included 14 pars, 3 birdies and a lone bogey. He rolled in a 6-foot birdie on the par 5, 18th to put himself in position for the top 10 finish.

Other than the usual couple of wayward drives, one of which cost him a penalty, the final round for the PNG ex was fairly uneventful.

He made a 24 footer for birdie at the par 5, 2nd, saved par after a penalty on the par 5, sixth by getting up-and-down from 85 yards, then made the turn at even after a wayward drive led to a bogey at 9.

He got back to 1-under with a 5-foot birdie at 11, then had six consecutive two-par pars before closing with the birdie at 18.

After a week when driving accuracy was an issue, Stroud finished T27 in that category by hitting 38 of 56 fairways. He was 8 of 14 on Sunday. His best stat was T6 in strokes gained putting. He was T16 in greens in regulation, hitting 14 of 18 Sunday to bring his final number to 55 of 72.