Chris Stroud finishes top 50 in Vegas

Published 10:32 am Monday, October 7, 2019

When Chris Stroud exited the rollercoaster Sunday afternoon at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, he signed a scorecard that showed him shooting an even-par 71 while making only seven pars in the Shriners Hospital for Children Open.

The wild ride dropped Stroud 20 places down the leaderboard and left him tied for 48th at 11-under-273. Prior to the 71, the Port Neches-Groves ex had carded rounds of 67-68-67.

Kevin Na, after almost letting the tournament slip away by shooting 70 in the final round, won by defeating Patrick Cantlay on the second hole of a sudden death playoff. But Na and Cantlay had finished at 23-under 261.

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Stroud made enough birdies Sunday to go low again but by the time he started making them he was digging out of a deep hole. He made four bogeys in his first 10 holes, roared back with four birdies in a six-hole stretch, then hit the ball in the water at the par-3 17th and made double bogey.

Sticking with the theme of the day, he rebounded with his sixth birdie at 18. To go with the six birdies, his scorecard showed four bogeys, a double and seven pars. What didn’t show on the scorecard was four missed putts from inside 7 feet.

As was the case throughout the week, Stroud got most of his birdies from short range. Five of the six came from inside 8 feet, the longest was 10-3 and the total footage of the six birdies was only 49-7.

Despite some of the frustration, it was a big bounce back from shooting 76-78 and missing the cut in his first tournament of 2019-20 season last week. Stroud will return to action in the Houston Open which starts Thursday at the Golf Club of Houston.