Week 28 Approach Shots: Miccosukee Championship
By PGATOUR.COM Staff
The Miccosukee Championship is the last full-field event of 2009, with players vying for top-25 and top-60 money-list positions. The top 25 at the end of the season will earn 2010 PGA TOUR cards. Following this week's event, the top-60 money-winners earn an invite to next week's season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island in Charleston, S.C. After last week's Chattanooga Classic, Brian Stuard is No. 25 on the money list, $3,234 ahead of Scott Gardiner, who holds down the 26th position. B.J. Staten, at No. 60, is $945 ahead of No. 61 Troy Kelly.
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COURSE HISTORY: The Miccosukee Tribe purchased the Miccosukee Golf & Country, formerly known as Miami National Golf Club and Kendale Lake, in 2001. The course has hosted the Nationwide Tour since 2003 but was host to other significant tournaments in years past. The course was the site of open qualifying for the PGA TOUR's Ford Championship at Doral for several years and played host to the Burdine's Invitational on the LPGA Tour from 1974-78. That event had notable champions Judy Rankin, Donna Caponi and Sandra Palmer.
LOOKING BACK: Last year's Miccosukee Championship provided one of the most fantastic finishes in Nationwide Tour history, with D.A. Points and Matt Bettencourt providing the fireworks. Playing together in the final group, Bettencourt led Points by one as the pair played the final hole. Points holed a wedge from 125 yards for an eagle to grab the lead and then watched Bettencourt roll in a 15-foot birdie putt to tie and force a playoff. The two returned to the 375-yard 18th hole for the overtime. Points' tee shot nearly found his exact divot from 10 minutes earlier and this time his wedge wound up 4 feet from the cup. Bettencourt's birdie putt from 14 feet missed and Points rolled his in for the win, the fourth of his career. Bettencourt went on to win the Nationwide Tour Championship the following week and capture the money list title for 2008 while Points earned enough money to grab a spot among the top-25 money winners on Tour and earn a return trip to the PGA TOUR in 2009.
AT STAKE: As the final full-field event of the year, the Miccosukee Championship takes on much significance this week. It will determine the top-60 money winners who advance to next week's Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island where every player in the field has a mathematical shot at earning one of "The 25" PGA TOUR cards for 2010 that will be awarded after play on Oct. 25th. Here's what's at stake based on one's final position on the final money list:
1-25.......receive PGA TOUR cards for 2010
26-60.....are fully exempt on the Nationwide Tour in 2010
61-100...are conditionally exempt on the Nationwide Tour in 2010
26-40.....are exempt into the Final Stage of the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament
41-70.....are exempt into the Second Stage of the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament
NO. 2 NOT SO BAD: Three times in the tournament's five years, the runner-up at the Miccosukee Championship has gone on to win the Nationwide Tour Championship the following week. Chris Couch was second to Craig Bowden in 2003 and then went on to win the next week at the Nationwide Tour Championship in Prattville, Ala. Nick Watney was runner-up to D.J. Trahan in 2004 and continued his solid play with a three-stroke win at the Nationwide Tour Championship the following week. Matt Bettencourt parlayed his playoff loss to D.A. Points last year into a title at the final Tour event of 2009.
COLLEGE TIES: The Melwood Prince George's County Open, in a unique partnership with the University of Maryland in College Park, will play its Nationwide Tour event on the University's Golf Course in 2010 and 2011. The announcement came on Oct. 9. The 2010 Melwood Prince George's County Open will be played May 31-June 6 next year. Maryland native Fred Funk will again serve as co-honorary chair, with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. The University of Maryland's 18-hole, semi-private golf course is located within the Washington D.C. Capital Beltway, making it an ideal spot to host this event. The 7,030-yard championship course consists of tree-lined fairways and a newly built clubhouse.
GUESS WHO'S BACK: The Nationwide Tour's leading money winner Michael Sim is in this week's Miccosukee Championship field. The Aussie is looking to protect his grasp on the top spot. Through 27 of 29 events, he has a $149,330 advantage over Blake Adams, who has risen to No. 2 without a win. Sim would like nothing better than to have a good week and increase his lead to more than $180,000, which is the amount of next week's first prize at Daniel Island. Next week's PGA TOUR event will be played at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., where the Aussie has a home. Sim has not yet secured a spot in that field and has indicated he may be in South Carolina. His lone PGA TOUR start since earning his battlefield promotion in August came at the recent Turning Stone Resort Championship. He finished T55 overcoming a quadruple bogey on his sixth hole.
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