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J.J. Spaun waves to fans on the 18th green after the fourth round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament in San Antonio, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Darren Abate)<\/p>\n
Darren Abate\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Stepping off the course at TPC San Antonio with a one-shot lead at the Valero Texas Open, Matt Wallace joked that he\u2019d look to find someone to summon a rain dance for the next two hours. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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One of the earliest finishers on a marathon day after Saturday\u2019s third round was cut short due to weather, Wallace knew he\u2019d need some luck to hang on during a roller coaster final round Sunday. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Matt Wallace, left, congratulates Chad Ramey on the 18th hole after the fourth round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament, in San Antonio, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Darren Abate)<\/p>\n
Darren Abate\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Matt Wallace pitches onto the 18th green during the fourth round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament, in San Antonio, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Darren Abate)<\/p>\n
Darren Abate\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Matt Wallace reacts to his drive from the fairway of the 18th hole during the fourth round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament, in San Antonio, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Darren Abate)<\/p>\n
Darren Abate\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
J.J. Spaun signs autographs after the fourth round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament in San Antonio, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Darren Abate)<\/p>\n
Darren Abate\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Seven different players held the top spot of the leaderboard at some point on Sunday, and as rainy conditions subsided through the afternoon, the scores began to creep lower, putting Wallace in a precarious position. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
No one on the course took advantage better than J.J. Spaun, who launched a 301-yard tee shot to within 10 feet for a tournament-changing eagle on 17. Combined with a birdie on the par-3 16th hole, Spaun surged to 17-under for the tournament, hanging on to win the Valero Texas Open for the second time and becoming the 11th multi-time winner at the event. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis game is so crazy,\u201d Spaun said. \u201cI haven’t been feeling at the form that I wanted to be based off of last season. Just trying to take each day as it comes and accepting what I have. Just got such a great team behind me that’s been supporting me. Just means a lot to come back and win here at a place that’s been so good to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Needing to finish the final nine holes of the third round before opening play in his final round, Spaun shot 9-under through 27 holes on Sunday. He hit four birdies to card a 4-under on the back nine of his third round, and his fourth round finished at 5-under, including four birdies, a bogey and the tournament-winning eagle. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Spaun is a veteran at TPC San Antonio, playing in his eighth Texas Open after winning the event in 2022. His victory Sunday marked a rare high point in a challenging season, as he had missed the cut in four of his seven events this year. His best finish was a tie for 24th place at the Players Championship three weeks ago, falling short of the heightened expectations he established after securing a breakthrough win at the U.S. Open last year. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI put a lot of pressure on myself this year to start the year, and a lot of expectations,\u201d Spaun said. \u201cIt’s the complete opposite of the mantra I had all year last year that really helped me, so I tried to get back to that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Spaun watched nervously from the scoring tent as a range of players challenged his spot atop the leaderboard. Michael Kim was the first to threaten on the 18th hole, but a 40-foot bunker shot for a tying birdie was off by about 16 inches, keeping Kim at 16-under. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Andrew Putnam was next up needing a birdie on the final hole to match Spaun, but his third shot on 18 flew over the green and landed in a bunker. He needed three more strokes to finish off a bogey, pushing him to 15-under. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt stings right now,\u201d Putnam said. \u201cI played great golf. It was tough. It was raining all day, and windy and cold. I hit a lot of good shots. Kind of a bummer how the last few played out.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
Then came Robert MacIntyre, who entered the final round as the leader at 14-under. MacIntyre started his day with a birdie on the seventh hole of his third round, but he shot 2-over the rest of the round, allowing the field to close the gap. He was still one stroke shy of the 54-hole scoring record at the Texas Open since the event moved to TPC San Antonio in 2010, but his third career lead at 54 holes faced much more doubt as Sunday went on. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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A bogey on the 16th hole of his final round seemed to drop MacIntyre out of contention, but he restored the drama with an eagle on 17, driving 309 yards to the green and then sinking a 16-foot, 6-inch birdie putt to move back to 16-under, just one stroke off the lead. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
MacIntyre let the chance slip with perhaps his worst shot of the week on 18, sending his second stroke well right of his target and into a muddy area behind a raised structure for spectators, more than 100 yards from the hole. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
After taking a drop into a more playable area, MacIntyre gave himself a chance with an approach shot to within about 30 feet. But his putt for the tie was off the mark from the moment he made contact, settling a little more than 2 feet from the hole and sealing Spaun\u2019s win. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly don\u2019t know what else to say other than I\u2019m disappointed,\u201d MacIntyre said. \u201cI gave it my best shot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The field spent much of the afternoon chasing Wallace, who climbed the leaderboard after matching the best round of the tournament with an 8-under 64 in the third round, carding four birdies and two eagles. Braving the harsher conditions early Sunday afternoon, Wallace closed a 4-under final round with birdies on 15, 16 and 17 to set the pace. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
After missing three cuts and finishing no better than tied for 40th in his six starts this season, Wallace left the course hoping for a win that would earn him his first start at the Masters since 2021. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would mean a lot in terms of where I\u2019ve been in the last year or so, to get to this point where I played so good over these last couple days, and the last couple of weeks, as well,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cIt would mean a lot to me to know that I can get the job done in whatever conditions.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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But as Wallace\u2019s hopes for rain were instead met with the day\u2019s first signs of sun, Spaun was the one claiming redemption after a slow start to 2026, celebrating a second Texas Open championship. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"J.J. Spaun waves to fans on the 18th green after the fourth round of the Valero Texas Open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-236759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}