On Sunday, Houston, the fifth game of the 2019-20 season, the Houston Open, ended at the Houston Golf Club. Chinese player Zhang Xinjun grabbed 9 birdies in the final round, swallowed 3 bogeys, shot the best 66 this week, tied for 4th place with a par 11 lower score, and set himself in the US tour. The best result in the game. Another Chinese player, Zhang Huachuang, tied for 23rd with a total score of -6. American player Rantau Griffin won the championship with a total score of -14, winning a prize of $1.35 million and 500 FedEx Cup points.
This is Zhang Xinjun's first place in the top five this season, the second time into the top ten - two weeks ago in the Sifuwei Open, he tied for seventh place. Houston's outstanding performance brought him $286,800 in prize money and 104 FedEx Cup points. At the moment, he ranked 14th in the FedEx Cup standings with a total score of 246 points.
"This may be my best nine-hole performance on the PGA Tour." Zhang Xinjun said when he evaluated his first nine holes. He used the 29-foot long birdie on the first hole to kick off the Sunday offensive. Starting from this hole, he grabbed four small birds in a row, including a 36-foot push on the fourth hole. The 5th and 7th holes are the only two of his first 8 holes that did not catch the bird.
After grabbing another 23-foot bird on the 10th hole, Zhang Xinjun’s total score came to 12 under par. But on the next 11th hole, he suffered the first retreat on Sunday: the kick-off fell to the right side of the grass, the second shot into the green bunker, and then failed to advance the 16-foot guarantee Pa Push, swallow bogey.
This bogey did not have much impact on Zhang Xinjun, and he immediately made up for it with a 4-foot bird on the 13th hole. On the 16th hole of Par 3, Zhang Xinjun kicked off the green ring and was 13 feet from the hole cup. He used a wedge to cut the ball directly into the hole. At this moment, his total score came to -13, only a stone's throw from the top of the leaderboard.
But Zhang Xinjun did not go any further. On the 17th hole, the second shot of his attacking green fell into the long grass behind the green, and failed to push the 9-foot Paopa. On the last hole, he also used three shots to put the ball on the green, and the two pushed bogey. He was only three shots behind the final champion Rantrey Griffin.
This is the second time that Zhang Xinjun is ranked in the top five on the PGA Tour. In 2018, he ranked fifth in the Corrales Ponte Cana Resort Club Championship without full FedEx Cup points.
Zhang Xinjun's putt on Sunday was excellent. He only missed a putt within 10 feet, and the putter weighted by 2.776, the highest day of the week. On the key statistics of the accuracy of the kick-off and the green rate on the par, Zhang Xinjun's performance on Sunday was better than the average of this week, reaching more than 70%.
