Carlos Ortiz Wins First PGA Tour Title At Houston Open

The Mexican held off DJ and Matsuyama to win his maiden PGA Tour title in Houston

Carlos Ortiz Wins First PGA Tour Title At Houston Open

Carlos Ortiz finished in style with a birdie to beat World No.1 Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama by two strokes at the Houston Open.

Ortiz becomes the third Mexican winner on the PGA Tour after finishing at 13 under par, thanks to a bogey-free final round 65 (-5).

He was being pressured all day by the likes of Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama and Brooks Koepka, but a stunning approach to the par-5 16th, which led to a birdie, and another birdie at the 72nd sealed a composed victory.

He just needed to avoid bogey down the last for the win and he holed from 22 foot for birdie and a grandstand finish in front of the fans which made their way back to the PGA Tour for the first time since March.

The 29-year-old was two clear of Dustin Johnson who was making his first start since the US Open after testing positive for Covid-19.

Brooks Koepka was in T5th at eight under after back-to-back 65s on the weekend.

Tyrrell Hatton was in T7th, his eighth top 10 in 14 starts worldwide this year. The Englishman returns to his career-high position of 9th in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Ortiz is up to a career-high 65th in the world from 160th last week.

“It feels great. It’s been a while. It’s been I think almost six years since I won and I missed it,” Ortiz said.

“I’ve played great this week and it was really hard to hold the emotions all the way to the end, but I’m really happy the way it played out and the way I played, too.

I had nothing to worry, I just had to stay aggressive, stay patient, stay in the present. I wasn’t really worried about other people. I know from experience that if I worry about myself and I do the best I can to stay aggressive, for the most part it’s going to work out.

“That’s what I did and I wasn’t really worried about other guys. I know the back nine is hard, so I knew if I played good, I was going to have a really good chance.”

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