Lanto Griffin was flat broke while playing the mini-tours in 2014, but now he’s a winner on the PGA Tour.
The 31-year-old Griffin sank a six-foot par putt on the 18th hole to cap a 3-under-par 69 and claim a one-stroke victory over Scott Harrington and Mark Hubbard in the Houston Open at the Golf Club of Houston https://golfclubofhouston.com in Humble, Texas.
“I felt eerily calm, I really did,” Griffin said of his clutch two-putt from 59 feet on the final green. “I knew that if I made a bogey, I still had a job out here next year. Still, I’m glad it’s over because I was just hanging on.
“My putter let me down a little on the back nine, but my ball-striking was pretty good. If you put a lot of pressure on yourself to win, it can backfire, but now that it’s over it’s pretty surreal. I’m just relieved.
“There are too many people to thank to name them all, but to all the people back home. ‘We did it.’”
Griffin, who won three times on the lower pro tours and finished in the top 20 in his four previous events this season on his return to the PGA Tour, took the lead with a 33-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole en route to a 72-hole total of 14-under 274.
Harrington, in his rookie year on the PGA Tour, made four birdies on the back nine but also had costly bogeys at Nos. 14 and 17 while shooting 67, and Hubbard, who played at San Jose State and also was seeking his first PGA Tour title, missed a 27-foot putt on the last hole that would have forced a playoff and finished at 69.
“This means a ton after all I went through on the mini-tours and the Korn Ferry Tour,” said Harrington, who recorded his third top-25 finish on the big tour this season. “To pull off shots today under pressure reaffirms the belief that I have that I have the game to play here. It’s just huge.”
Xinjun Zhang of China, a six-time winner on other pro tours, shot 66 to finish three shots back in a tie for fourth with Harris English, who posted a 66, plus Carlos Ortiz of Mexico, Talor Gooch and Sepp Straka of Austria, who all wound up at 69.
Stewark Cink closed with a 69 and was one more back in a tie for ninth with Denny McCarthy, who also had a 69, Chad Campbell, who recorded a 68, and Bud Cauley, who came in at 67.
Cameron Champ of Sacramento, who won the Safeway Open earlier this season, tied for 23rd after a 67, while Sebastian Munoz of Columbia, who claimed his first PGA Tour title three weeks ago in the Sanderson Farms Championship, shot 67 to tie for 28th.
Amateur Cole Hammer, the 19-year-old sophomore at Texas playing on a sponsor exemption in his first regular-season PGA Tour event after qualifying for the 2015 U.S. Open, tied for 61st after a 73.
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