Golf

2014 Valspar Championship results: John Senden hangs on during rough day at Copperhead

A veteran Aussie emerges on an ugly day in Tampa.

Mar 16, 2014, 10:15 PM UTC

Sam Greenwood

John Senden is heading back to Augusta National. The 42-year-old Aussie won his second PGA Tour event Sunday afternoon in Tampa, coming from behind on a brutal day at Innisbrook to take the Valspar Championship.

The Copperheard Course at Innisbrook was biting yet again, some windy conditions causing plenty of large and crooked numbers all over the course. Some ugly holes from the final pairing of Robert Garrigus and Kevin Na opened the door for the entire field, and Senden took advantage.

Senden posted a 1-under 35 on his outward nine, and then held on through a wild back nine stretch to get in the house at 7-under. He went without a par for six straight holes, relinquishing his lead by starting that stretch with back-to-back bogeys. But most importantly, he finished that six-hole rollercoaster with two birdies to pass Scott Langley and reclaim his spot on top of the leaderboard. It was an impressive rebound from the shakiness of the preceding holes, and some nifty short game work was the biggest reason. After an ugly drive into the pine straw at No. 16, it was looking like Senden would card another bogey, or even double bogey. But after drawing one out of the pine straw around a tree to the rough short of the green, the Aussie chipped in to pull a birdie out of a hole that was trending poorly. It was a dramatic turnaround:

Senden would then drain at 22-foot birdie on the par-3 17th hole and that would end up being the difference. Those back-to-back birdies built enough of a margin to hold off Na by one shot.

Na takes a lot of crap for his slow pace, something he’s worked hard to correct and improve. But that stereotype still chases him, and he was put on the clock alongside Garrigus on Saturday. Sunday’s round looked to be going off the rails when he played a three-hole stretch in 4-over on the front side, but with everyone else struggling to make pars, he stuck around and pushed Senden with two huge birdie putts for a back nine 33. He had a shot to force a playoff with a birdie on the 18th, but the desperation putt from long range missed the hole by about a foot on the low side.

Garrigus, who took a three-shot lead at the midpoint Friday night, played his way out of it in the final group with a front nine 41. Garrigus bombs it off the tee, but the tough conditions, and two weekend rounds with Na did him no favors. Two double bogeys and a bogey bounced him down the first page of the leaderboard early and he could never recover. He went 27 holes without posting a red number, a disappointing turn for one of the more likable guys on Tour who is not yet in the Masters field.

Here’s the final leaderboard from Tampa:

Place	Player	Score	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
1	John Senden	-7	72	71	64	70
2	Kevin Na	-6	70	68	68	72
3	Scott Langley	-5	71	69	69	70
T4	Will MacKenzie	-4	73	70	68	69
T4	Luke Donald	-4	71	72	67	70
T4	Robert Garrigus	-4	69	66	70	75
7	George McNeill	-3	73	71	67	70
T8	Graham DeLaet	-2	75	68	71	68
T8	Gary Woodland	-2	72	71	70	69
T8	Matt Every	-2	68	71	72	71
T8	David Hearn	-2	71	70	70	71
T8	Matteo Manassero	-2	69	70	71	72
T8	Justin Rose	-2	71	68	69	74
T14	Sang-Moon Bae	-1	72	73	71	67
T14	Charles Howell III	-1	71	70	74	68
T14	Bill Haas	-1	69	73	72	69
T14	Jason Dufner	-1	72	73	68	70
T14	Chesson Hadley	-1	75	70	67	71
T14	Jason Kokrak	-1	74	68	68	73
T20	Carl Pettersson	E	71	70	71	72
T20	Jordan Spieth	E	71	70	71	72
T20	Jim Furyk	E	71	69	71	73
T20	Freddie Jacobson	E	70	71	70	73
T20	Ted Potter, Jr.	E	73	71	67	73
T25	Ryo Ishikawa	1	73	72	72	68
T25	Cameron Tringale	1	74	71	70	70
T25	Brian Harman	1	71	70	73	71
T25	Morgan Hoffmann	1	74	69	71	71
T25	Josh Teater	1	73	70	70	72
T25	Russell Knox	1	70	73	70	72
T25	Charley Hoffman	1	70	72	67	76
T32	Erik Compton	2	72	73	72	69
T32	Robert Allenby	2	73	71	70	72
T32	Justin Hicks	2	72	72	70	72
T32	Ben Crane	2	70	72	71	73
T32	Jonathan Byrd	2	70	73	70	73
T32	John Merrick	2	70	70	72	74
T38	Harris English	3	72	69	74	72
T38	Y.E. Yang	3	73	72	70	72
T38	Kevin Streelman	3	73	69	71	74
T38	James Hahn	3	69	74	70	74
T38	Chad Collins	3	73	71	69	74
T38	Matt Kuchar	3	73	71	69	74
T44	Woody Austin	4	71	71	74	72
T44	Pat Perez	4	68	71	77	72
T44	Ben Curtis	4	70	74	71	73
T44	Brendon Todd	4	70	75	70	73
T44	Nicholas Thompson	4	76	69	69	74
T44	Tommy Gainey	4	69	72	72	75
T44	Peter Hanson	4	75	70	69	74
T44	K.J. Choi	4	72	72	69	75
T44	Greg Chalmers	4	68	72	72	76
T44	Retief Goosen	4	72	73	64	79
T54	J.B. Holmes	5	71	74	71	73
T54	Michael Putnam	5	69	72	74	74
T54	Justin Leonard	5	71	71	71	76
T54	James Driscoll	5	73	70	68	78
T58	Stuart Appleby	6	71	73	74	72
T58	Darren Clarke	6	71	74	73	72
T58	David Lingmerth	6	73	72	71	74
T58	Brandt Snedeker	6	72	73	71	74
T58	Jerry Kelly	6	76	68	71	75
T58	D.H. Lee	6	74	70	70	76
T58	Michael Thompson	6	72	69	72	77
T65	Nicolas Colsaerts	7	69	73	76	73
T65	Marc Leishman	7	75	69	74	73
T65	Jason Bohn	7	71	74	73	73
T65	Padraig Harrington	7	75	70	72	74
T65	Stephen Ames	7	72	70	72	77
T70	Paul Goydos	8	75	69	73	75
T70	Daniel Summerhays	8	77	68	71	76
T70	Davis Love III	8	74	70	71	77
T70	Rory Sabbatini	8	70	72	72	78
74	Sean O'Hair	12	73	71	74	78
75	John Mallinger	14	71	73	74	80