The new era golf in the United States is upon us as 50 graduates of the Web.com Tour earned their right, this past Sunday at TPC Sawgrass in the Web.com Tour Championship, to compete on the PGA TOUR next season. Now with the second season of the new format completed there is no question that this is a ‘fairer and truer’ way, and as exciting, as the old combination that included a Q-School avenue to the PGA TOUR. Sunday at the Finals Finale is like the old Monday finish at Q-School, as there is no tomorrow, the designation is final, you either go UP to the PGA TOUR or back DOWN (if you are a PGA TOUR Nos. 126-200) or back AROUND (if you are a Web.com Tour Nos. 26-75) to the Web.com. Plus we still have the ‘rarer and more volatile’ Q-School to come for direct entry of newcomers to the world of big-time professional golf on the Web.com Tour.
It wasn’t that long ago when we thought of a ‘web’ only as a cobweb or something that snares or entangles. Nowadays the web is the worldwide internet that connects everything and everybody. The mission of the Web.com company in the corporate world is just that: to connect every business, especially small businesses, with their customers by leveraging their web and website-making expertise. In the golf world their mission, through sponsorship of the Web.com Tour, is to develop the future players and stars of the PGA TOUR. Rather than trapping someone, they want to be the springboard to fame and fortune, in both the golf and corporate worlds.
Adam Hadwin and Derek Fathauer jumped aboard the Web.com springboard and are now soaring to competing on the PGA TOUR in two weeks time at the Frys.com. Hadwin won the the No. 1 spot on the season-long money list with a T7 finish in the season-ending event. Fathauer won the 2014 Web.com Tour Championship by one stroke with a 65-66-67-68 performance this week. He also won the special Web.com Tour Finals series by finishing at the top of the Finals money list.
Six players played their way to a 2014-2015 PGA TOUR card with stellar finishes this week: Zac Blair (2nd), Heath Slocum (T4), Alex Prugh (T14), S.J. Park (T11), Chad Collins (T7), Eric Axley (T25). On the other side, there were six players losing ground and their PGA TOUR cards for next season: Roberto Castro (T40), Vaughn Taylor (T61), and Greg Chalmers, Dicky Pride, Will Wilcox, and Patrick Rodgers, all four who missed the cut this week.
Good luck to all in the 2014-2015 season!