Notebook: Wind made D. Johnson's Texas showing even more amazing

 

Those who teed off Thursday morning at the Valero Texas Open when the wind was raging in San Antonio didn't have much of a shot. No one from that side of the draw broke par and the average score was 78.61, compared with 74.86 for the afternoon draw. Nearly 70 percent of the players who made the cut came from the Thursday afternoon draw. 

 

All of which made Dustin Johnson's performance that much more impressive. 

 

Johnson opened with a 78 on Thursday morning. He was the only player from that side to finish in the top 10 after bouncing back to make the cut on the number and then going 68-68 on the weekend. He tied for sixth. 

 

His weekend score of 136 was 11 shots better than the field average. 

 

A bad draw due to weather is not unprecedented in this outdoor sport, though it mostly happens at the British Open. At Royal Birkdale, the morning group got the brunt of the wind and rain. There were 19 rounds in the 80s, all from the morning. 

 

Padraig Harrington played in the morning group. He wound up winning the claret jug. It's not easy. But it can be done. 

 

HOUSTON WDs: The bad news for the Shell Houston Open is that it lost two of the hottest players on the PGA Tour. Henrik Stenson withdrew on Monday because of the flu, while Valero Texas Open winner Jimmy Walker withdrew on Tuesday. No reason was given. 

 

The good news is for the two players replacing them. 

 

Cameron Percy of Australia replaced Stenson, while Greg Owen of England got in for Walker. That at least gives them fleeting hope of getting to the Masters. 

 

The last change to qualify for Augusta National is to win the Shell Houston Open, which starts Thursday. 

 

CHANGE IN PLANS: Now that the British Masters is back on the European Tour schedule, it could free Ian Poulter to play at least one of the events in Texas in May. 

 

Poulter is trying to juggle membership on the European Tour and PGA Tour. He typically plays all four events in the finishing stretch of the Race to Dubai, along with the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and either the Scottish Open or the French Open. 

 

The British Masters is Oct. 8-11 at Woburn, his home club. 

 

Poulter said he might skip Wentworth and instead play Colonial, and perhaps the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship the following week. 

 

"The way the rules went in Europe, I had to play my home event, and that meant Wentworth," the Englishman said. "That was my home event because there was no British Masters. Wentworth still want me there to play golf, but I need to make a smart decision and not travel as much. I probably will get a couple of extra events here." 

 

The BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the flagship event in Europe, is the same week as Colonial. 

 

Poulter has played the BMW PGA Championship 16 times. His best finish is a tie for 10th in 2012. He has missed the cut eight times. 

 

RADIO DAYS: SiriusXM will have more than 80 hours of talk programming and 24 hours of live coverage at the Masters, plus a bonus this year. 

 

For the first time, SiriusXM will have access to Augusta National's exclusive archives. The radio network plays to air rarely heard audio on a special Masters preview show at noon Monday. The archives include interviews with Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player from the 1960s, and audio highlights and reflections on Gene Sarazen's albatross in 1935 and Nicklaus' famous charge when he won in 1986. 

 

Ben Crenshaw, a two-time champion playing his final masters, will host a new edition of his show at 9:00 p.m. on the eve of the Masters. 

 

DIVOTS: Jimmy Walker is the only player to twice be in the top five in "strokes gained putting" and "strokes gained tee-to-green" in the same tournament. Those were at the Sony Open and the Texas Open. He won the Sony Open by nine shots and the Texas Open by four shots. ... Eight of the 12 winners in stand-alone PGA Tour events in 2015 were among the top 50 in the world the week they won. ... The Australian Open will return to The Australian Golf Club, where Jordan Spieth last year closed with a 63 to win his first trip Down Under. The tournament will be Nov. 26-29, the week after Thanksgiving. ... Matt Kuchar is playing the Scottish Open at Gullane this year a week before the British Open at St. Andrews. He last played the Scottish Open in 2011 and tied for 10th at Castle Stuart, and the missed the cut a week later at Royal St. George's. 

 

STAT OF THE WEEK: The three Ryder Cup rookies at Gleneagles who led the U.S. team in points scored – Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth and Jimmy Walker – are among the top four in the FedEx Cup standings. 

 

FINAL WORD: "Everybody says it's hard to win at home. It's hard to win any week – home, away, out of the country. It's hard." – Jimmy Walker after his four-shot win in the Valero Texas Open. 

 

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