It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but it didn’t need to be for Andrew Landry, who earned his first career US PGA Tour victory at the Valero Texas Open. His final-round, four-under 68 gave him a 17-under 271 total, and a two-stroke edge over Trey Mullinax and Sean O’Hair, who tied for second.
Landry, 30, had a share of the 54-hole lead and immediately built on it Sunday at TPC San Antonio’s AT&T Oaks course, making three consecutive birdies to open his round and then another at the par-4 sixth. He made just one more at the par-4 10th, and then gave it back at the 11th, but followed with seven straight pars to close out his round. After spending the majority of his last few years on the Web.com Tour, Landry’s work paid off, his first win fittingly coming in his home state of Texas in front of several family members.
“Lot of hard work, obviously. Today was a grind, especially on the back nine, didn’t hit that good of a wedge shot [at the 18th], good two-putt there, so, we’ll take it,” Landry said.
The University of Arkansas alum remains a bit of an unknown to golf fans, despite nearly taking down Jon Rahm in a playoff at the CareerBuilder Challenge in January and making an appearance at the top of the leaderboard at the 2016 US Open at Oakmont, eventually tying for 15th in his only Major championship start. He’ll get a few more cracks in the Majors thanks to his Valero win, including an invite to the 2019 Masters, but he’s still focused on continuing to put together a strong 2018 campaign.
“We’re trying to get to the Tour Championship this year, and that’s kind of my goal still,” he said. “We still have a lot of work to do, but this will definitely help.”
While it’s his first US PGA Tour win, it’s Landry’s third as a professional, the first two coming on the Web.com Tour in 2015 and 2017. It’s clear he’s got plenty of game, and it was on full display this week, as Landry ranked first in the field in greens in regulation, first in total strokes gained and second in scrambling. Even so, the win comes after a rough stretch for Landry, including missing four straight cuts before tying for 42nd at the RBC Heritage.
For Mullinax, who shot a course-record 62 on Saturday but closed with a 69, and O’Hair (Sunday 66), their T-2 finish is the best for either of them all season, and a career-best result for Mullinax. Jimmy Walker finished in solo fourth at 14-under 274, and Zach Johnson in solo fifth at 13-under 275.
Aaron Baddeley was the best placed Australian, finishing in a tie for 16th at 7-under.
