Hendrix Collects T4 Finish at PCCC; Bradley and Adams Earn Top-10s at PGA Championship


Matt Hendrix

By Stewart Moore

Springfield, MO – Former eGolf Tour players Chris Wilson of Dublin, OH and Scott Harrington of Scottsdale, AZ required overtime at the Web.com Tour’s Price Cuter Charity Championship on Sunday, before Wilson walked away with his first career tour title. In the midst of the playoff commotion, former eGolf Tour policy board member Matt Hendrix finished T4, in turn notching his best finish of the 2012 season and moving inside the top 70 on the money list.

Wilson, who played the eGolf Tour in 2011, and Harrington, who made 4-of-4 cuts on the 2009 eGolf Tour, finished regulation play at 21-under 267, and went straight back to the par-5 18th for the first playoff hole.

With a struggling Harrington trying to scrape out a par, Wilson hit the green in two shots and left himself a simple two-putt for birdie that netted his first Web.com Tour win, and vaulted him from No. 165 to No. 23 on the tour’s money list. The top 25 players on the season-ending money list will earn their 2013 PGA TOUR cards.

"It's comforting knowing I can perform when it matters most," said Wilson. "Anyone can do it in practice."

Harrington, like Wilson a former Northwestern Wildcat golfer, earned his spot in the event by successfully Monday qualifying, and could have won in regulation had it not been for an untimely bogey at the 71st hole. The native Oregonian birdied the 72nd hole to force the playoff prior to losing out to Wilson’s birdie at that very same hole 20 minutes later.

The runner-up was worth $67,500 to Harrington, who now has special temporary member status for the remainder of the year on the Web.com Tour.

"I've known Chris a while and we're good friends," said Harrington who missed being a teammate of Wilson’s by one year at Northwestern. "If I could be in a playoff with anybody in this field, it would be him."

Former eGolf Tour policy board member Matt Hendrix of Aiken, SC and Camilo Benedetti of Colombia finished T4 on the week at 19-under 269, two shots shy of the Wilson-Harrington playoff.

Hendrix, who played the eGolf Tour full time in 2009 and 2010 before playing his way onto the 2011 Web.com Tour, was the event’s 18-hole leader following a 9-under 63 in Thursday’s opening round.

Follow-up rounds of 72-68 kept Hendrix inside the top 15 through 54 holes of play, in turn allowing him to enter Sunday’s final round at 13-under and tied for 14th.

The former Clemson University star and U.S. Walker Cup team member birdied three of his first five holes in the final round to move to 16-under for the week, before suffering his first bogey at the par-3 sixth to drop to 2-under for the day.

Back-nine birdies at 11 and 13 moved Hendrix to 17-under par, and when he closed with birdies at 17 and 18, he was left with a final-round 66 that moved him up 10 spots on the day.

The T4 marked Hendrix’s best finish on the 2012 Web.com Tour, and his second top-10 of the year. The top-5 was his first since a T3 at the 2011 Stadion Classic at UGA, where Hendrix earned T2 money courtesy of amateur Russell Henley’s win. That finish – worth $48,400 – catapulted Hendrix from the eGolf Tour to the Web.com Tour, where he wound up at No. 45 on the season-ending money list. He is currently 68th on the tour’s 2012 money list with $56,832 in earnings.

Luke Guthrie of Quincy, IL and James Nitties of Australia rounded out the tour’s representation inside the top 10 with 17-under 271 totals and matching T10 finishes.

The T10 further continued a stellar professional debut summer for Guthrie, who finished T4 at the eGolf Tour’s Spring Creek Classic in June. After concluding a stellar University of Illinois career with second-team “All America” honors this year, Guthrie has posted three top-20 finishes on the PGA TOUR, and three top-10s on the Web.com Tour – including a playoff loss at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational just two weeks ago.

Other eGolf Tour players to make the cut in Springfield include Aron Price (T12), Philip Pettitt (T15), Rob Oppenheim (T19), Richard Scott (T19), Doug Barron (T19), Hudson Swafford (T27), Lee Williams (T27), Fernando Mechereffe (T27), Bryan DeCorso (T27), Jeff Curl (T38), Brad Fritsch (T38), Scott Parel (T43), Wes Roach (T43), Matt Harmon (T47), Jin Park (T47), Casey Wittenberg (T47), Nick Flanagan (61), Andres Gonzales (63), Jeff Corr (64), Jamie Lovemark (T65), Derek Fathauer (T65) and Steve LeBrun (67). For complete results from the Price Cutter Charity Championship on PGATOUR.com, please click here.

• At the PGA Championship, defending champion Keegan Bradley led all former eGolf Tour players with rounds of 68-77-71-68—284 and a T4 finish. Bradley overcame a bogey start to his final round with five birdies and 12 pars to close with a 4-under 68. The finish marked his fourth top-5 of the year, and came just one week after picking up his third career win at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Former eGolf Tour member Blake Adams closed with a 5-under 67 – one of Sunday’s better rounds – to post a T7 finish on the week, his best career finish in a major championship. Adams, a winner at the eGolf Tour’s Columbia Open in 2008, spent the majority of the final round outside the top 10, but closed with a flurry, posting birdies on 15, 16 and 17 to reach 5-under on the day, where he eventually finished with a par at the last. The finish was just the second top-10 of the year for Adams, but represented his seventh top-25. Former eGolf Tour player Brendon de Jonge of Zimbabwe finished T54 at Kiawah, while Matt Every and Cameron Tringale rounded out the tour’s representation on the weekend with 71st- and 72nd-place finishes, respectively. For complete results from the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, please click here.