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Thomas loses his putting touch
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Greyserman stumbles again
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Long odds-on Kim denied in extra time
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Pre-event 400.0399/1 chance, Nico Echavarria, who had been backed down from a high of 580.0579/1, led the co-sanctioned ZOZO Championship in Japan by two strokes with a round to go. He was trading at around 2.447/5.
The 30-year-old Colombian started nicely enough, parring the first and birdying the second but the pre-tournament 27.026/1 shot, Justin Thomas, drew alongside him after he made his third birdie of the round at the sixth.
Having been matched at as low as 1.824/5 during the third round on Saturday, Thomas' price dipped to 1.84/5 after the fast start but he couldn't buy a putt after that. After a string of pars after the sixth, he was always on the peripheral as both Echavarria and Max Greyserman, in particular, found their putting boots.
Having begun the final round trailing by three, pre-event 85.084/1 chance, Greyserman, started even faster than Thomas, birdying three of the first holes and he hit the front at the par five 14th as Echavarria recorded a bogey six.
The commentators questioned Greyserman's decision to lay up after a fine drive, but he trusted his putting prowess and drained his birdie putt from 28 feet.
That was his fifth putt from outside of 14 feet in round four and it saw him go odds-on.
With Thomas missing putt after putt and Echavarria only one-under for the round, Greyserman was matched at a low of 1.261/4 when he led by a stroke with just three to play. The Colombian bounced back brilliantly, though, with a birdie at the par three 16th and the momentum swung firmly back in his favour when Greyserman hit a poor drive on the tough 17th.
Greyserman wobbled at the Wyndham a couple of months ago, when he was matched at just 1.061/18 in-running, and he appeared to get a bit nervous here too.
To his credit, he got up-and-down brilliantly for par on the penultimate hole but he hit an even worse drive on 18 to hand the initiative to the Colombian.
Echavarria hit a great drive and an even better second to find the green on the par five finishing hole and victory was confirmed with a two-putt birdie after Greyserman came agonisingly close to a birdie himself from 24 feet.
Echavarria was very much a surprise winner given he was playing in the event for the first time with current form figures reading MC-MC-11-MC.
Over on the DP World Tour, the pre-tournament favourites, Tom Kim and Byeong Hun An, were tied at the top with a round to go at the Genesis Championship in their homeland of Korea.
Kim, who was a 9/110.00 chance before the off, birdied four of his first seven holes in round four but he was caught and passed by Antoine Rozner after Kim bogeyed the par three eighth and Rozner had played his first 10 holes in five-under par.
The Frenchman was matched at a low of 2.245/4 but a bogey at 11 halted his progress and he was out of the race when he drove out of bounds on the par five 15th.
Having started the week in 150th place on the Race to Dubai Standings, and in need of an exceptional performance to keep his playing privileges, pre-event 1000.0999/1 shot Ricardo Gouveia was matched at just 3.052/1 when he hit the front with his third birdie in-a-row at the short par four 14th. But he was soon caught again by Kim when he too birdied the hole.
Playing alongside Kim and Rozner, An appeared out of the race and the pre-event 11/112.00 chance was matched at as high as 16.5 deep into the back nine.
An birdied the par three 13th to get to within two of Gouveia and one of Kim. But An was back to trailing his compatriot by two with just four to play when he could only par the drivable par four 14th after he hit a terrible drive that only narrowly avoided the hazard.
Gouveia slipped out of the lead with a bogey at the 16th and An got to within one of Kim when he birdied the par five 15th.
With Kim still needing to hole from just inside eight feet for par, An went odds-on for the first time, hitting 1.75/7 when he drew alongside Kim with a birdie putt from outside 25 feet on the 16th. They flip-flopped again, however, when Kim drained the par save and the younger man was back to odds-on.
Having clawed himself alongside Kim with some great long putts and a bit of fortune off the tee on 14, An made a mess of his tee-shot on the par three 17th. After Kim had got up-and-down for par for the second hole in-a-row, and An had missed his par save, Kim was back to long odds-on.
Leading by one with just the par five 18th to play, Kim looked far and away the most likely winner, and he hit a low of 1.11/10 as they played the 72nd hole.
After both men had been forced to lay up following a pair of poor drives, they both hit great approaches with their third.
With An over eight feet away in three and Kim just inside eight feet, the younger Korean was still the odds-on jolly but, after An had rolled his in to stay alive, Kim's just lipped out and we were into extra-time.
Kim was the narrow favourite before the playoff began and he went long odds-on again after the pair had driven off. He hit a cracker down the middle and An looked like he may have gone in the water to the right of the fairway but it turned out that he'd narrowly stayed dry again.
In contrast to the way they'd played the hole in regulation, both men went for the green with their second shots. Having missed the green to the right, Kim caught a poor break when his ball landed in a very awkward spot adjacent to the greenside bunker.
It was An's turn to go odds-on after his second shot finished through the green and after a clumsy third shot, a chip onto the green and a missed par save by Kim, An was left with the simplest of tasks to win.
After his chip onto the green to around three feet, An had two putts for the win. He needed only one.
Having backed Thomas at halfway at 4.67/2 and Kim at 11.521/2, I can't say it was an enjoyable morning's viewing but I did at least make a profit by laying Kim back in-running at 1.282/7.
For the first time that I can remember, other than over the Christmas period, we have a blank week this week with no PGA Tour or DP World Tour action. I'll be back next week when the DP World Tour playoffs begin with the Abu Dhabi Championship and the PGA Tour visits Mexico for the World Wide Technology Championship.