“Crazy s— can happen,” said Varner, still in search of his first PGA Tour title. “Man. You’re sitting there on … you just never know.”
Unfortunately, Varner was more spot on than he could have imagined during a chaotic final round at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. On the tee at the par-4 12th hole Sunday, Varner was two under for the round and 10 under for the tournament, holding a share of the lead with Scottie Scheffler and playing partner Scott Stallings. Varner successfully found the fairway off the tee, but with a wedge in his hands he wound up burying his second shot in a greenside bunker, the whipping winds starting to pick up the pace even more.
As this was going on, Stallings hit his approach on the 12th hole over the green and needed a ruling about getting relief from a TV tower. Varner played his third shot, blasting it out on the green but leaving himself a 19-footer for par. A putt he had to wait roughly 15 minutes to hit as Stallings worked to get his ball on to the green.
Finally ready to try to hole his par putt that’s when things really went sideways.
A four-putt from 19 feet can’t be good for the psyche. Which then might explain what happened on the next hole, the par-3 13th.
The resulting double-bogey 5 threw Varner farther down the leader board. And it was then made even worse when he hit his drive on the par-4 14th out of bounds right. That set up a triple-bogey 7. In the span of three holes, Varner had shot a eight under par after being 10 under through his opening 65.
If there was anybody who likely wanted to walk off the course, it was Varner. But impressively he bounced back on the par-4 15th hole, when he hit his approach shot to five feet and made a birdie.
However, Varner would miss out on another opportunity to grab his first PGA Tour win. He’s had a fine career so far without it, although a week earlier at the PGA Championship, the 31-year-old joined an auspicious club. He became the 11th golfer in PGA Tour history to make $10 million for his career without a win.