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McKinney, TX - At the start of the 2008 Nationwide Tour season, players eyed trophies and dollar figures, experience and cuts made; but by the end of the year, the only thing that mattered was a spot in the money list's top 25 and an automatic ticket to the 2009 PGA Tour. When the dust settled at the season-ending Tour Championship, a total of seven former EGOLF Tarheel Tour players found themselves inside that magic number and with a certificate the size of a credit card that read one thing: 2009 PGA Tour Member.
Leading the way and the money list was Matt Bettencourt of Greenville, SC. Bettencourt won the Oregon Classic and overcame a last-second bout with kidney stones to claim the Tour Championship in McKinney, TX. Bettencourt competed full-time on the 2007 EGOLF Tarheel Tour and only notched one top-10 finish after considering other career paths during the winter leading in. The native of Modesto, CA had already locked up his PGA Tour card entering the Tour Championship as he was No. 12 on the money list, but a six-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole gave him the win, the money title, a spot in next year's PLAYERS Championship and a spot in every event he wishes to play in 2009. For more on Bettencourt's dramatic win, click here.
Bettencourt's win bumped Charlotte, NC resident and 2007 PGA Tour member Brendon de Jonge from the top spot on the money list. The native of Zimbabwe held the top spot on the money list for much of the latter part of 2008, but fell just over $10,000 shy of Bettencourt after a T11 finish at the Tour Championship. de Jonge had a total of five top-three finishes on the year, including a win at the Xerox Classic. Perhaps it was a T14 finish at the EGOLF Tarheel Tour's Rivertowne Open earlier this year that spurred his success as prior to that he has missed his last two cuts on the Nationwide Tour. He will be making his second trip back to the PGA Tour and joining his college teammate, fellow Charlotte resident and 2008 Shell Houston Open winner Johnson Wagner on the road.
Kris Blanks, who played the EGOLF Tarheel Tour in 2006 and 2007, finally got his shot at the big time with a 13th-place finish on the Nationwide Tour money list. The resident of Bluffton, SC only recorded four top-10s in 26 starts this year, but he made one of them count with a win at the lucrative Bank of America Open. The win came with a check for $135,000 – one of the richest on the Nationwide Tour. Just as Tiger Woods did in the 2000 PGA Championship, Blanks went toe-to-toe with a charging Bob May in the final round at the Bank of America Open, but birdied three of his closing seven holes to win by a single shot.
Perhaps no win featured as much outward exuberance as that of longtime EGOLF Tarheel Tour player David Mathis at the prestigious BMW Charity Pro-Am in May. Mathis had missed three of his first four cuts of the year before righting the ship with some steady play and a spot in Sunday's final pairing at the South Georgia Classic, just one week prior to his triumph at the BMW. A final-round 74 would leave the former Campbell University standout in a tie for sixth, but the confidence gained more than paid off the following week as Mathis won by three shots in an event that pairs celebrities with pros, much like the PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. For Mathis, a man of devout faith, 2008 was the culmination of years of practice and patience as he (and others) knew it would only be a matter of time before he reached the PGA Tour. It can be hypothesized that May is Mathis' month of choice as he captured the EGOLF Tarheel Tour's River Run Classic in May of 2007 – hopefully his final career title on the tour.
A world of expectations was bestowed upon Casey Wittenberg after he finished runner-up in the 2003 U.S. Amateur to former EGOLF Tarheel Tour player and current PGA Tour member Nick Flanagan. Wittenberg was a junior phenom who kept that torch lit in college at Oklahoma State and at the 2004 Masters Tournament, where he finished T13 as an amateur. Wittenberg finally overcame the weight of those expectations this year after finishing 15th on the Nationwide Tour money list to secure his spot among the game's stars on the 2009 PGA Tour. The Memphis, TN native made 15 of his first 17 cuts on the year and recorded three top-three finishes in that span. He made headlines in September at the PGA Tour's Viking Classic when he finished T4, just three shots out of a playoff won by former EGOLF Tarheel Tour player Will MacKenzie.
Australian Aron Price got an early start on his Nationwide Tour year with a win at the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship in April. The former Georgia Southern “All America” selection would only record two more top-10 finishes in 2008, but the cushion he built early on remained as he finished No. 18 on the money list.
No one knew quite what to say when Brendon Todd entered the 2007 Musgrove Mill Classic on the EGOLF Tarheel Tour and won: Beginner's luck? Todd made his first career professional start count with a one-shot victory over Matt Cannon on arguably the tour's most difficult venue. A four-time “All American” at the University of Georgia, Todd won the SEC Championship as a freshman and immediately cast himself as one of college golf's most talented players. Todd was well outside the top 25 and looking in through the first half of 2008 before setting the Utah Championship ablaze with a staggering 22-under 262 total, good enough to earn him his first career Nationwide Tour win. The Atlanta, GA resident added T8 finishes at the WNB Golf Classic and the Miccosukee Championship to round out his year and secure his PGA Tour card with a T19 finish on the money list. |
