Pair of Texas exes among four deadlocked at the top
SAN ANTONIO — Heading into the final round of the Valero Texas Open with a share of the lead, Beau Hossler thinks back on all the times he's been in this position before, from amateur golf, to the University of Texas, to the Korn Ferry Tour.
Sunday will mark the fourth time the 27-year-old Hossler enters the final round of a PGA Tour event with at least a share of the lead, but he's still searching for his first victory.
The final day of the Texas Open figures to be as contentious as any he's played previously, as Hossler joins Brandt Snedeker, J.J. Spaun and fellow former Longhorn Dylan Frittelli in a tie at 10-under after the third round of play Saturday at TPC San Antonio.
“The most important part is just having experienced that before,” Hossler said. “Drawing on any and all experience is huge. I feel great. I feel really comfortable.”
After shooting a 1-over during Thursday's opening round, Hossler said he found a tweak in his swing that “freed me up to commit a little bit better on my shots.”
The change led to a 6-under performance Friday and Saturday's 5-under, putting him in position to supplant a third-place showing in February at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as his best career PGA finish.
His time at Texas from 2013-16 and continued residence in Austin would add to the moment of winning a Texas Open championship, but Hossler is trying to remain focused only on Sunday's round.
“I just can't get into that,” Hossler said. “If I start thinking of all of that, I'm in trouble. So I'm just going to go out and play some golf tomorrow, and hopefully, it's enough.”
A native of South Africa, Frittelli played at Texas from 2008-12, highlighted by a winning putt to lift the Longhorns to their first national championship in 40 years at the 2012 final, beating Alabama. Jordan Spieth, the 2021 Texas Open champion who enters Sunday's final round at even par, was a freshman on that Texas squad.
Frittelli shot a 2-under Saturday behind three birdies and a lone bogey. He put his tee shot off the eighth hole onto the cart path but recovered to save par, splitting the trees with a 5-iron and following with a “crazy, crazy bunker shot” of about 65 feet to set up a putt of less than 5 feet.
Seeking his second PGA Tour victory and first top-10 finish of the season, Frittelli said he'll be “working on his mental game” Saturday night to be prepared to chase a longtime goal.
“If there are three groups of tournaments I want to win in my career, it's the South African Open, the Texas Open, and a major,” Frittelli said. “Those three are waiting to be ticked off my résumé, so I'm going to give it all I can tomorrow.”
Snedeker, a former FedEx Cup champion who ranked as high as No. 4 in the world in 2013, entered the Texas Open having missed the cut in his previous five events.
But after shooting 1-over during Thursday's opening round, Snedeker rebounded with a 6-under in round two and a 5-under Saturday, rekindling the type of performance at TPC San Antonio that led him to a finish in a sixth-place tie in the 2021 Texas Open.
He credited his return to form to “hitting more of a straight cut shot” after trying to play a draw on Thursday, as well as a fresh mentality after a few weeks of struggles.
“The only way you fix that is to go out there and do it, go out there and keep practicing and keep grinding, which I've been doing,” Snedeker said. “Hopefully this is kind of a turning point for me this year and kind of get back where I belong and where I think I belong. It's up there trying to win golf tournaments.”
Spaun claimed his spot among the leaders after a round he described as “up and down.”
He notched three birdies through the first eight holes, but ran into trouble on No. 9, starting with a drive into the trees. His second shot drew left of the hole — “the last place you want to be,” Spaun said — and his third shot cleared the green, leaving him farther from the hole than before the swing. The adventure ended in double bogey, and he added a bogey on the 12th hole before kicking off a run of four birdies in five holes by chipping in from about 32 feet for a birdie on 13.
“That definitely lit a fire for a little late-round rally,” Spaun said. “When these miracle shots happen, or something that you're not expecting happens in a good way, it kind of fires me up. So hopefully that can happen tomorrow, too.”