2014 Shell Houston Open results: Matt Jones shocks Matt Kuchar with hole-out chip to win playoff

Matt Jones, who started Sunday six shots back of leader Matt Kuchar, earned a last minute Masters berth by winning the Shell Houston Open with a dramatic hole-out chip shot on the first playoff hole.

Jones birdied the 18th with an amazing 46-foot putt in regulation just to force extra holes, then drained a wedge shot from the front of the green to end it on the first playoff hole. He’s now the third Aussie in the past month to earn a late Masters berth by winning a PGA Tour event, joining John Senden and Steven Bowditch.

As he did all day, Kuchar had an advantage in the playoff, putting his drive in the middle of the fairway while Jones was in a bunker down the left side. The Aussie advanced his ball out of the sand, but had almost no shot of getting on green at the difficult par-4 in two. With his ball well short of the green, he decided to simply pop it up and over a trap and roll it in for his first ever PGA Tour win and first ever Masters invite. Video of the shot, via PGATour.com:

Jones was unrelenting in his Sunday chase of Kuchar, even on the last regulation hole when it appeared all hope was lost. From just inside 50 feet on the 18th green, the 33-year-old Aussie was down two shots and had a must-make birdie putt to even think about a playoff. With the pressure on, he put it in the center of the cup to at least force Kuchar to think about things on his final hole. It was an amazing putt given the circumstances:

That putt would end up getting him in the playoff, with Kuchar collapsing and rinsing one into the water on the 18th a few minutes later.

For most of the day, and the weekend, it looked like Kuchar, who was already one of the trendy favorites to win the Masters, would roll into Augusta off his seventh PGA Tour victory. He has been streaking for some time, playing in the final Sunday pairing two straight weeks in Texas.

Kuchar had a four-shot lead to start the day, and the question didn’t seem to be if he would win, but by how much. He got a little loose in his final round, however, and finally gave away the lead on his last hole of the day. For much of the round, he enjoyed a comfortable multi-shot margin over Jones, and then two bogeys in his last three holes erased the lead. Standing in the middle of the 18th fairway, he just needed a par to lock it up in regulation but the lanky righty, who has one of the flatter swings in the game, inexplicably pulled his hybrid into the lake up on the left side of the green. All of a sudden, he was out of cruise control and fighting to get up-and-down to force a playoff. He managed to force the extra hole, but a second poor approach and Jones’ chip-in shocked him out of the win.

Kuchar has been one of America’s most consistent players for several years now, stacking cash with multiple wins and constant top 10 finishes. He’s got three wins in the last three years, and is in the hunt almost every week he tees it up. But he has yet to get that first major, a title that many presumed the Georgia Tech product would first get at Augusta. The win would have added to the peaking trend heading to a place where he can often shoot in the red just by showing up. But those two approach shots on 18 -- the first pulled left into the water, and the second pushed right into the bunker -- might jolt the progression a bit.

The Shell Houston Open draws so many players in the Masters field because the course and tournament try to create a layout as similar as possible to Augusta. There’s relatively no rough, and the areas around the greens are shaved down to put a premium on the kind of chipping and putting needed for the season’s first major. There were 46 players with Masters invites who decided to tee it up one week before a major, an unusually large number. And most of those tops guys -- Kuchar, Sergio Garcia, Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy -- all rose to the top of the leaderboard throughout the four-day stay in Houston.

Aside from Jones, who had nine birdies on Sunday, the most impressive play of the day came from McIlroy, who matched the low round of the week with a 65. McIlroy was perfect tee-to-green and got his putter rolling in his final Masters tune-up round. He’s now the favorite at Augusta with Tiger Woods unable to go, and a bogey-free round on top of the much-improved form this year should make him a force at the Masters.

While it’s now officially Masters week, the Shell Houston Open, given the depth of the field and the late Sunday drama from Jones, was a pretty awesome lead-in to the first major of the season. Here are your final results: