Andrew Landry looked like he might run away with the Valero Texas Open.
Until he didn’t.
Trey Mullinax looked like he might put a huge amount of heat on Landry over the final two holes.
Until he didn’t.
Landry got his breakout win on the PGA Tour Sunday in San Antonio and Mullinax made it easy for him.
Early in the day, Landry started his round with three straight birdies and made it four on the first six holes. He blew Zach Johnson out of the picture, Jimmy Walker too. The only guy who stayed close was the 306th-ranked player in the world and that was Mullinax, who set a course record at the TPC San Antonio with a 62 on Saturday.
Landry got another birdie at the 10th, making it five of the first 10. After that he ran out of birdies. A bogey at the 11th and a birdie by Mullinax closed the gap to a shot.
After that, things got tense for Landry, who gave no indication he’d play well in San Antonio. He had missed four straight cuts before he scored an unimpressive tie for 42nd at The Heritage.
Mullinax looked at a golden opportunity to tie things up at the 17th. He launched a massive drive on the 365-yard par four and was pin-high with flip wedge for possible birdie. Instead, he hit a horrible de-cell chunk, right into the bunker. He barely got his third onto the green and two-putted from 28 feet for bogey, handing Landry a two-shot cushion going into the par five 18th.
Mullinax had yet another opportunity to pressure Landry on the 72nd green. He was looking at a nine-foot birdie putt while Landry had eight feet for par. Once again, Mullinax let Landry off the hook. He missed and with the pressure all gone, Landry buried his for a closing 68 and a two-shot win over Mullinax and Sean O’Hair.
“A lot of work,” Landry said of his journey this season. He lost in a playoff to Jon Rahm in the CareerBuilder this past January. “Today was a grind, especially on the back nine.” It was a real grind compared to his first nine holes. After the bogey at the 11th, he rolled off seven pars to get the job done.
Landry will move up higher from his 114th spot in the world rankings. He’s in The Players and made a huge step to compete for the big FedEx Cup money.
“We’re trying to get to the Tour Championship this year,” he said.
He’s obviously now on his way.
