Russell Knox shot a final round of five-under-par 67 to finish joint ninth in the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Florida today (Sunday) but the $112,800 he won was not enough to save losing his USA PGA Tour card.
The Inverness-born, Jacksonville Beach-based Scot, who had earlier rounds of 66, 72 and 72, finished 143rd on the final money table with earnings of $512,584. He moved up 13 places with his last-ditch effort but only the top 125 kept their playing rights for next season.
Kevin Chappell was the man in 125th place with earnings of $647,510.
The weekend tournament winner was American Charlie Beljan with rounds of 68, 64, 71 and 69 for 16-under-par 272. He won by two shots from Matt Every and Robert Garrigus.
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CHARLIE THOUGHT HAS DYING IN ROUND 2
... NOW HE'S IN HEAVEN AFTER VICTORY
FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE By Staff and wire reports
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida -- Charlie Beljan had no reason to panic Sunday. His wild week at Disney ended with a comfortable lead and his first PGA TOUR victory.
What a turnaround in just two days.
Beljan struggled to breathe and his blood pressure spiked
during the second round, which ended with him being wheeled out of the
scoring room on a stretcher. He spent the night at the hospital. It
turned out to be a panic attack that was out of control.
For 36
holes, he feared the panic attack might return. By the end of play
Sunday, the 6ft 4in 28-year-old rookie had completed a dream week.
Beljan
ran off four straight birdies around the turn and built a five-shot lead
on the back nine. He closed with a bogey for a 3-under 69 and a
two-shot win at the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic.
After
knocking in the last putt, he tossed his putter and walked around the
18th green on the Magnolia Course pumping his fists as it all began to
sink in. Beljan was No. 139 on the PGA TOUR money list coming into the
final event of the year and figured he was headed back to Q-school. His
win gives him a two-year exemption, a trip to Maui for the Hyundai
Tournament of Championship and a spot in the PGA Championship next year.
"What a joy," he said. "This is the greatest feeling ever."
He hoisted his 7-week-old son on the 18th green as a band played "Zippity-Do-Dah."
Even
by Disney's standards, this was an unimaginable journey. Beljan thought
he was going to die on Friday when his chest was heaving as he tried to
breathe. He sat in the fairway and paramedics followed him around the
back nine of Palm Course in his second round.
He got only an hour
of sleep in the hospital Friday night, leaving his golf shoes on until
about 4:30 a.m., then came to the course Saturday not knowing if he
could finish one hole, let alone all 18. And when he woke Sunday, he had
a pounding headache and an uneasy stomach.
All that is forgotten. Beljan, who finished on 16-under 272, became the fourth rookie to win on tour this year.
Robert Garrigus
got within two shots of him with about an hour to go until he stopped
making birdies and had to settle for a 68. He finished two shots behind,
along with Matt Every, who closed with a 68.
Tim Herron
was the other big winner Sunday, closing with a 69 to tie for ninth.
That gave him enough money to move from No. 138 to No. 124 on the money
list, giving him full status on TOUR for the 2013 season.
Kevin Chappell finished at No. 125. He wound up $1,809 ahead of Jerry Kelly, but Chappell wasn't safe until Charlie Wi and Josh Teater
each made par on the last hole. If either had made bogey, Kelly would
have moved up one position -- from a six-way tie for ninth to a
seven-way tie for eighth -- that would have allowed him to pass
Chappell.
Instead, Kelly is out of the top 125 for the first time in his career.
Beljan
earned $846,000 for the victory, capping a long, hectic season in which
he learned he was going to be a father, got married in March and first
began suffering panic attacks after he passed out on a flight home from
the Reno-Tahoe Open in early August.
Beljan showed a few signs
that he might crack. He three-putted from behind the fifth green, and
then was disgusted with an approach that just missed the green to the
left on No. 7. After getting a drop because his left foot was on a
sprinkler head, he rolled in an 18-foot birdie off the green, screamed
"Go!" at a wedge that obeyed him and settled a foot away for a tap-in
birdie on the eighth, and then holed a 30-foot birdie on the ninth.
He's
so long off the tee that the par-5 10th was the easiest of his four
straight birdies, and when he knocked in a 30-footer on No. 12, Beljan's
lead was up to five shots.
There was only one nervous moment after that.
Instead
of playing it safe off the tee at the 13th, he hit driver into the
woods, went into a bunker, then across the green, and made a quick
double bogey. Garrigus made a birdie ahead of him on the 14th, and
suddenly, the lead was only two shots.
No need to panic.
Beljan's
12-foot birdie putt on the 14th caught just enough of the right side of
the cup to fall. Garrigus didn't make another birdie, and Beljan's only
other big blunder was knocking a birdie attempt some 7 feet by the cup
at No. 16. He made that one coming back for par, and reached the 18th
tee with a three-shot lead.
Typical of the final event of the year, the biggest drama was surrounding the ever-changing money list.
Herron
looked to be in good shape until he hit his tee shot into the water on
the 17th hole and made double bogey, and then had a 20-foot birdie putt
hang on the edge of the cup on the 18th hole. He figured he needed that
to get his card, and walking off the green he stepped on his bag and
gave it a swift kick. He was ready to give the bag another kick when
Golf Channel announcer Billy Andrade said he might be safe.
Wi
and Teater, playing one group apart, hit the fairway and the green on
the 18th for regulation pars to spare Chappell, who started the week at
No. 123. Teater, in the final group, ran his birdie putt about 2 feet by
the hole, but knocked that in and Chappell was safe.
Chappell
tweeted, "Well I am glad that is over thanks for all the support. I look
forward to improving this off season and making sure this never happens
again."
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