Steven Bowditch is a 30 year old from New South Wales, Australia. He turned professional in 2001 and has three wins down under.
He became the third Aussie to win on the PGA Tour this season. Jason Day won the WGC-Accenture Match Play and John Senden won his first tour event at the Valspar Championship in Tampa in the Florida Swing.
Bowditch may have taken some inspiration from his good friend Senden, who had entered 345 PGA Tour events and had earned over $16 million, before he got his inaugural win.
Bowditch has struggled with depression issues throughout his golfing career, but displayed a resolute dissolve last week. When necessary, he displayed a brilliant touch around the greens at TPC San Antonio when forced to recover.
His first three rounds of 69-67-68 gave him the 54-hole lead with Matt Kuchar and Andrew Loupe three shots behind.
The leaders all struggled in the final round on Sunday, a trend we have come to expect on tour. Bowditch fought and scrapped to a final round four-over par 76, but only one of the top 23 players at the end of the day was able to break 70.
Kuchar and Loupe both posted three-over par 75 and were passed by two other players and fell to T-4.
Will MacKenzie and Daniel Summerhays finished just one shot back of Bowditch at seven-under par and tied for runner-up.
Todd Brendon’s four-under par 68 on Sunday moved him up 18 spots on the leaderboard to finish T-6 with veterans Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Jerry Kelly, at five-under par for the week.
Texas native and 2013 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, Jordan Spieth survived a poor first round 75 to post 70-68-71, finish four-under par and collect his fourth top-10 finish of the 2014 season.
The Valero Texas Open was the 20th tournament of the year and Americans have won 17. The three Australians are the only International players to win events on the PGA Tour this year.
The tour next moves east for the Shell Houston Open and players not already qualified for the Masters will be trying to earn the final spot into the first men’s major championship of the year.
The Shell Houston Open marks the half-way point of the season. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Rory McIlroy are winless thus far.
At least, Scott and McIlroy have posted top-10’s, but Woods, Mickelson, Stenson and Rose are battling injuries that have hampered their play.