ORLANDO, Fla. -- John B. Holmes completed his sixth round in the 60s on Monday, a 3-under 69, and won medalist honors at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. He finished the marathon event at 24-under-par 408 and won the tournament by three over Germany’s Alex Cejka.
‘I just played solid everyday,’ said Holmes, who pocketed $50,000 for the win. ‘I shot in the 60s everyday so that is pretty good. It is such a long tournament that it really doesn’t matter where you stand after the first few rounds. You just go out there and play golf and add it up at the end.’
In all, 32 players were able to post scores good enough to earn the PGA Tour cards for the 2006 season.
Cejka posted a 4-under 68 to finish alone in second place at minus-21. Nicolas Thompson (70) and fifth-round co-leader D.A. Points (74) shared third place at 19-under-par 413.
Tom Byrum (70) and Nick Watney (69) tied for fifth place at minus-17. Daisuke Maruyama (68) and Michael Allen (74) finished knotted at 16-under-par 416.
The top-30 players and ties earned full exempt status for the 2006 PGA Tour season. The final number turned out to be 32 with everyone 11 under par or better advancing.
These players picked up their tour cards for next year: Hunter Mahan, Will MacKenzie, Robert Garrigus, Marco Dawson, John Engler, Jeff Overton, Henrik Bjornstad, former U.S. Amateur Champion Bubba Dickerson, Ron Whittaker, Ian Leggatt, Ryan Hietala, Brian Bateman, Matt Hansen, Alex Aragon, Greg Kraft, Mike Sposa, Bill Glasson, Danny Ellis, Michael Connell, Brett Wetterich, B.J. Staten, Frank Lickliter, Mathias Gronberg and Bill Haas.
Haas, son of PGA Tour and Champions Tour player Jay Haas rolled in a 3-foot birdie putt on his last hole to reach the magic number of 11-under-par 421.
‘It was tough out there today. I thought I was going the wrong way. Somehow I snuck a putt in on the last hole,’ said Haas. ‘I was definitely nervous, especially on the last hole.’
The next 46 players down to 4-under-par 428 got full exempt status on next year’s Nationwide Tour. All other players get conditional status on that tour in 2006.
Among the notable players who missed a PGA Tour card, but earned a spot on the Nationwide Tour were Grant Waite, Kevin Stadler, Cameron Beckman and Scott Hend.
Hend had it roughest as he was well inside the qualifying number as he started the round at 15 under par. He shot a 6-over 78, including three bogeys in a row from the 14th to finish at minus-9.
‘I feel pretty empty at the moment,’ admitted Hend. ‘No matter what I did, I didn’t do the right thing. It wasn’t meant to be. I didn’t panic. If I made a choice, it happened to be the wrong choice. It was just one of those days.’
Among the notable players who only managed conditional status on the Nationwide Tour were former Masters champion Larry Mize, four-time PGA Tour winner Notah Begay III, 2000 PGA Championship runner-up Bob May and former Ryder Cupper Per-Ulrik Johansson.
The event was played on the Panther Lake and Crooked Cat Courses at Orange County National Golf Center & Lodge.
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