WILCOX SCORES FIRST WIN ON US WEB.COM TOUR BY FOUR STROKES
FROM THE US WEB.COM TOUR WEBSITE
By Joe Chemycz, Web.com Tour staffVALDOSTA, Georgia. – Will Wilcox fired a one-over-par 73 and cruised to a four-stroke win at the South Georgia Classic, his first career title on the Web.com Tour on Sunday.
Wilcox, pictured by courtesy of Getty Images(c), began the final round at the Kinderlou Forest Golf Club with a whopping seven-stroke lead – courtesy of a course-record 63 Saturday – and never let any of his challengers get closer than the final margin all afternoon.
The 26-year-old from Alabama bogeyed the 72nd hole but it didn’t matter as he finished at 15-under par, well in front of Monday qualifier Zack Sucher (65), D.J. Brigman (70) and Michael Putnam (70).
Alex Rocha (67), Andrew Loupe (70) and Ryan Spears (71) tied for fifth place, five shots back.
“This is just surreal. I’ve been dreaming about this my whole life,” said Wilcox, who adopted a ‘better golf through cleaner living’ approach at the start of the year. “I’ve made some really big changes in my life and that’s obviously what I needed to do and continue with.”
Wilcox, a third-year pro, picked up a check for $117,000 and vaulted from No. 55 to No. 3 as the Tour reached the one-third mark of the 2013 schedule. His season total of $139,061 puts him on track to finish among The 25 leading money winners this year and earn a spot on the PGA TOUR in 2014.
“I can’t even think that far ahead right now,” said Wilcox, trying to gain some perspective of what might be ahead.
Sunday’s finale was not without a bit of drama as Wilcox stumbled a few times but managed to rebound quickly and dash the hopes of anyone tying to catch him.
“I barely slept. I woke up at 4 a.m. My heart was racing but I was so tired,” said the winner of his Saturday night. “It just wasn’t fun at all and I was ready to just get back to the golf course this morning.”
Wilcox ripped a drive at the par-5, 2nd hole and needed only an 8-iron to reach the green in two. A two-putt birdie settled his nerves and increased his lead.
Bogeys at Nos. 3 and 6 dropped him to 15-under par and cut his lead to four strokes. Wilcox then stiff-armed the field at the par-4, 7th hole when he holed a wedge from 135 yards for an eagle-2.
“Four shots with 12 to play doesn’t sound very good but six up with 11 to go is a lot better. I don’t even know what to say,” said Wilcox, who holed a 7-iron for an eagle-2 in Saturday’s record-setting round. “I can’t believe I holed two shots on the weekend. It’s mind blowing. It’s just the damndest thing. I haven’t got any idea what gotten into me.”
Wilcox remained comfortably in front until he stumbled again at the par-5, 11th hole.
“I was being too aggressive and just snapped it into the hazard,” he said. “I took a drop but was on some rocks and lost my footing and hit it into the hazard again. I had to take another drop, hitting five from 188 yards. That came up 70 feet short of the green and I putted that to 10 feet and canned it. It was a good double, I mean people were clapping for me making seven.”
Much like his life, Wilcox made a 180-degree turn on the next hole, the 490-yard, 12th hole which played as the toughest all week.
The hole, site of his surprise eagle on Saturday, yielded only five birdies Sunday. Wilcox made his from 25 feet, which put him 4-under on the hole over four days.
“I relaxed when I saw nobody was making a move,” said the now laid-back champion. “The walk up 18 was sweet.”
Fourth-Round Notes and Quotes:
-- Sunday’s weather: Mostly sunny. Wind S-SE 8-16 mph. High of 86.
-- Wilcox has made the cut in four of his six starts this year. His only other top-25 finish was a T12 at the Chile Classic.
-- Wilcox picked up a check for $117,000 and increased his season total to $139,061. He moved from No. 55 to No. 3 on the money list.
-- Wilcox earned his first career Web.com Tour win in his 49th career start.
-- Wilcox became the fourth first-time winner in seven events on Tour this year. He joined Kevin Foley (Panama Claro Championship), Patrick Cantlay (Colombia Championship) and Benjamin Alvarado (Brasil Classic) as first-time winners in 2013.
TO VIEW ALL THE FINAL TOTALS
CLICK HERE
“This is just surreal. I’ve been dreaming about this my whole life,” said Wilcox, who adopted a ‘better golf through cleaner living’ approach at the start of the year. “I’ve made some really big changes in my life and that’s obviously what I needed to do and continue with.”
Wilcox, a third-year pro, picked up a check for $117,000 and vaulted from No. 55 to No. 3 as the Tour reached the one-third mark of the 2013 schedule. His season total of $139,061 puts him on track to finish among The 25 leading money winners this year and earn a spot on the PGA TOUR in 2014.
“I can’t even think that far ahead right now,” said Wilcox, trying to gain some perspective of what might be ahead.
Sunday’s finale was not without a bit of drama as Wilcox stumbled a few times but managed to rebound quickly and dash the hopes of anyone tying to catch him.
“I barely slept. I woke up at 4 a.m. My heart was racing but I was so tired,” said the winner of his Saturday night. “It just wasn’t fun at all and I was ready to just get back to the golf course this morning.”
Wilcox ripped a drive at the par-5, 2nd hole and needed only an 8-iron to reach the green in two. A two-putt birdie settled his nerves and increased his lead.
Bogeys at Nos. 3 and 6 dropped him to 15-under par and cut his lead to four strokes. Wilcox then stiff-armed the field at the par-4, 7th hole when he holed a wedge from 135 yards for an eagle-2.
“Four shots with 12 to play doesn’t sound very good but six up with 11 to go is a lot better. I don’t even know what to say,” said Wilcox, who holed a 7-iron for an eagle-2 in Saturday’s record-setting round. “I can’t believe I holed two shots on the weekend. It’s mind blowing. It’s just the damndest thing. I haven’t got any idea what gotten into me.”
Wilcox remained comfortably in front until he stumbled again at the par-5, 11th hole.
“I was being too aggressive and just snapped it into the hazard,” he said. “I took a drop but was on some rocks and lost my footing and hit it into the hazard again. I had to take another drop, hitting five from 188 yards. That came up 70 feet short of the green and I putted that to 10 feet and canned it. It was a good double, I mean people were clapping for me making seven.”
Much like his life, Wilcox made a 180-degree turn on the next hole, the 490-yard, 12th hole which played as the toughest all week.
The hole, site of his surprise eagle on Saturday, yielded only five birdies Sunday. Wilcox made his from 25 feet, which put him 4-under on the hole over four days.
“I relaxed when I saw nobody was making a move,” said the now laid-back champion. “The walk up 18 was sweet.”
Fourth-Round Notes and Quotes:
-- Sunday’s weather: Mostly sunny. Wind S-SE 8-16 mph. High of 86.
-- Wilcox has made the cut in four of his six starts this year. His only other top-25 finish was a T12 at the Chile Classic.
-- Wilcox picked up a check for $117,000 and increased his season total to $139,061. He moved from No. 55 to No. 3 on the money list.
-- Wilcox earned his first career Web.com Tour win in his 49th career start.
-- Wilcox became the fourth first-time winner in seven events on Tour this year. He joined Kevin Foley (Panama Claro Championship), Patrick Cantlay (Colombia Championship) and Benjamin Alvarado (Brasil Classic) as first-time winners in 2013.
TO VIEW ALL THE FINAL TOTALS
CLICK HERE
Labels: NATIONWIDE TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Monday, April 29, 2013
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home