Michael Sim loses play

-off but he's on way

back to US Tour

Michael Sim is definitely on the road back! The Aberdeen-born Australian, a winner already on the US Nationwide Tour this season, almost did it again in the Athens Regional Foundation Classic on Sunday.
Over the par-72, 7004yd Jennings Mill Country Club course at Athens, Georgia, Sim, pictured above, shot a brilliant final round of 63 to force a play-off with American Patrick Sheehan at 14-under-par 274.
Sheehan won the play-off with a birdie at the first extra hole to pocket $99,000; Sim earned $59,400 and has already won enough - $241,147 - judging by the 2008 Nationwide money table to be looking forward to playing on the US PGA Tour next year where he was a couple of seasons ago before a lower back stress fracture eventually cost him his card.


FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE:
ATHENS, Georgia -- Patrick Sheehan birdied the first hole of a sudden-death play-off Sunday to defeat Michael Sim at the Athens Regional Foundation Classic. The $99,000 paycheck is the first of the season for Sheehan on the Nationwide Tour and puts him in seventh place on the current money list. The top 25 players at the end of the year earn US PGA Tour cards for 2010.
As the day unfolded, the eventual win for the Providence, Rhode Island native was anything but certain. Sheehan started the day at 10 under and two strokes behind third-round leader Bob Burns.
Playing seven groups and 80m behind Sim, Sheehan kept his eye on the scoreboards as the 24-year-old Australian-Scot rocketed toward him.
"I saw him at 14 under and kept wondering what he could have shot," said Sheehan.
Sim started the day tied for 19th and seven shots off the lead. Seven birdies and an eagle later, he was in the clubhouse with a course-record-tying 63 and a sole possession of the lead at 14 under par.
Sheehan got to 13 under through 11 holes when Sim finished, then birdied the 12th take a share of the lead. He then bogeyed the 13th and missed a five-footer for par on the 15th to fall two shots back, and thought the round and chances for his first win in almost seven years might be slipping away.
"After I missed the putt on 15, I told Billy (his caddie) that my only shot was to make two birdies coming in and force a play-off," he said.
He did just that, making an unlikely 3 on the par-4 16th, the second-toughest hole on the course, where only seven other birdies were made all day. After a par on the 17th, Sheehan hit a perfect approach to 8 feet on the final hole of regulation.
"I couldn't see it but heard the roar and knew there was going to be a play-off," said Sim, who was less than 100 yards away on the practice tee when Sheehan's birdie putt curled in the left side of the cup.
They returned to the par-5 18th hole, where Sim was first to hit and laced a 2-iron down the middle of the fairway. Sheehan pushed his drive wide right, where it bounced off a cart path and into wet rough.
"The lie was decent but my stance was in a puddle of water. The rules official said I was entitled to take relief, but where I would have had to drop was in a worse spot so I decided just to play it," said Sheehan.
"I also couldn't hit too much club because there was a mound in front of me."
Sim laid up perfectly to 75 yards with an ideal angle to the pin while Sheehan was still 140 yards out with a difficult approach over the water and a greenside bunker. It clearly looked like Sim was in position to become the first player to win consecutive events on the Nationwide Tour since 2002.
Sheehan's approach with a 9-iron drifted right and ended up just a few inches off the green, 22 feet from the hole.
Sim played a low spinning sand wedge that looked like it would hit the slight ridge in the middle of the green and release to the back left pin. But the ball landed softly, stopping some 40 feet from the hole.
"I thought that shot was perfect," said Sim. "It hit an old pitch mark and didn't release."
After Sim rolled his putt two feet past the hole, Sheehan stepped up and coolly drained the 22-footer from the fringe for birdie and the victory.
This is Sheehan's second career win as a professional and his first time competing in a play-off. He has played five full seasons on the US PGA Tour since 2003 with more than $3.8 million in earnings. He finished 128th on last year's US PGA Tour money list and came to Athens after not getting into the field at the Verizon Heritage. This win guarantees fully-exempt status on the Nationwide Tour for the remainder of this year and all of 2010.
Sim continued his stellar play with another top-five finish, his third in six starts this year. He maintains his top position on the current money list with cumulative earnings of $241,417. The 25th position in 2008 was $218,902.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
1. Patrick Sheehan 66 69 71 68 274. Sheehan won play-off ($99,000).
2. Michael Sim 68 71 72 63 274 ($59,400).
3. Darron Stiles 71 68 70 66 275 ($37,400).
4. Garth Mulroy 70 73 69 65 277 ($20,735)
4. John Riegger 73 69 69 66 277 ($20,735)
4. Daniel Summerhays 71 70 67 69 277 ($20,735)
4. Bob Burns 74 63 67 73 277 ($20,735)
4. Rich Barcelo 66 73 67 71 277 ($20,735)
9. Cameron Percy 69 72 66 71 278 ($15,400).
9. Skip Kendall 68 70 69 71 278 ($15,400)