Matt Bettencourt capped off a furious finish to the season with a win at the Nationwide Tour Championship.
OK, so that's a wrap.
Another season on the Nationwide Tour has come and gone. As always, it produced lots of excitement, a bundle of new faces -- and a few familiar ones -- headed to the PGA TOUR and some incredible feel-good stories.
If you've been following along for more than a few years, it's time to shrug the shoulders and say, in unison, "So, what's new?''
In many ways, it's the same old story, just with some new names, different results, capable champions and some fantastic finishes. The race for "THE 25" was as brutal and exciting as ever, and next year, those 25 will face a whole new set of challenges.
This year saw the Nationwide Tour's first $1 million purse -- and then its second -- a sign that the proving ground of the PGA TOUR is growing stronger, more talented and more competitive with each season. It also saw the emerging dominance of the Australian players as well as success by players from other countries -- a sign that the Nationwide Tour is now more international than ever.
After 30 weeks, 30 tournaments and 27 champions, the Nationwide Tour says goodbye to another season, but before moving onto 2009, there's a lot left to be said about 2008.
So, without further ado, let's take a look back at the year that ended Sunday north of Dallas when the final putt disappeared on the 18th green at the Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch.
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| Man of the last minute |
Matty Come Lately fills the bill.
Raise your hand if you penciled in Matt Bettencourt, playing in his fourth season on the Tour, for the honor as late as Labor Day. Bettencourt had made 32 of 72 career cuts when the Tour moved to Oregon in mid September. But darn if he didn't break at the Oregon Classic and finish the season like Secretariat running the Belmont Stakes. He lost in a playoff to D.A. Points at the Miccosukee Championship and then won the Nationwide Tour Championship by a stroke, sinking a clutch six-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to avoid a playoff against Jeff Klauk.
Not only did Bettencourt, 33, win, he passed long-time money leader Brendon de Jonge to claim that title by a little more than $10,000 and grab the perks (a full exemption in 2009 plus spots in THE PLAYERS Championship and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial) that go with the prize.
Nice guy Bettencourt's game turned around drastically when he put a new putter in the bag at Boise the week before his win in Oregon. He started making everything.
Now that's the way to close the deal. |
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| Point taken |
Remember back in April when a passel of golf pundits where jumping on Colt Knost's case when the reigning United States Amateur and Public Links champion decided to send his regrets to Augusta National Golf Club, bypassing the Masters to turn pro?
Who had the last laugh?
Knost won twice, finished his first season at No. 6 on the money list and has a chance to play his way into the Masters all over again. And trust me on this call, he didn't mind hushing those second-guessers one bit.
Honorable mention: Scott Piercy, who also is headed to The Big Show. |
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| Time to exhale |
| Collectively, the threesome of Rick Price (eight), Klauk (six) and Ricky Barnes (four) had played 18 seasons on the Nationwide Tour prior to 2008 without ever advancing to the PGA TOUR. Lo and behold, each of them finished inside "THE 25" this season and will be the rookies wearing the widest smiles at The Big Show in 2009. Good to know practice and patience are rewarded. The wait, for Barnes, was the hardest part. He walked off the green of the 72nd hole at the Nationwide Tour Championship figuring he was a gone pecan, but a rash of breaks finally went his way as he waited on pins and needles for two hours before his fate was determined by other players. |
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| First time's the charm |
| Casey Wittenberg, Spencer Levin, Brendon Todd and Knost were all big-time college players of whom big things were expected. The foursome all cashed in when afforded the opportunity to play a full season on TOUR. Look for them to make some noise among the world's best in 2009. |
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| Dominant performance |
| Australian Marc Leishman owned it at the WNB Golf Classic in Midland, Texas. He destroyed the the field and the Midland Country Club golf course in windy conditions, coming within a 72nd-hole bogey of setting the Nationwide Tour record for largest margin of victory. His 11-shot win at 21 under tied Chris Smith's mark set in Omaha more than 11 years ago. |
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| Under the radar |
| Englishman Greg Owen had the best season of any player who received little or no publicity. He was rock solid from start to finish in '08 and led the Tour's All-Around statistic (it takes a player's ranking in all categories of import and adds them up) by a whopping 101 points over runner-up Peter Tomasulo. He easily gained his PGA TOUR card despite playing in only 17 events. |
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| The wow factor |
There was no better finish on Tour than the Miccosukee Championship, won by Points in a playoff over Bettencourt. All Points did was hole out from 125 yards for an eagle two on the 72nd hole to get into the playoff. Then he birdied the first extra hole (the same one he eagled moments before) to win and punch his ticket to the PGA TOUR next season.
But in an all's-well-that-ends-well scenario, Bettencourt also secured his card with his second-place finish. "Nobody has ever been happier to finish second,'' said Bettencourt, who closed the '08 regular season with a heated rush to secure his first trip to the PGA TOUR after almost a decade of trying. |
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| Precipitous fall |
| After winning the Moonah Classic, it appeared as though the career of Australian Ewan Porter was about to take flight. But Porter developed serious swing issues that he could not solve and plummeted down the money list from a high of second to 41st. He played in 22 events following his victory, missed 15 cuts and withdrew from another event. The real tell-tale sign of his struggles were underlined by his scores. He had just five more rounds in the 60s, and his best finish was a tie for 38th at the Rex Hospital Open in June. "It was a struggle,'' Porter said, after getting disqualified from the Nationwide Tour Championship following the second round when he signed an incorrect scorecard. "I definitely got hit with the sharp blade of the sword more than once." |
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See you next year.
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