Victoria, Australia – February 8, 2010 – For the second time in the last year, former Ben Hogan Award winner Chris Kirk narrowly lost out on claiming his first professional title in extra holes. In March of last year, Kirk lost a four-man playoff to Tom Gillis in the eGolf Tour's Pine Needles Classic. Yesterday, at the Nationwide Tour's Moonah Classic in Australia, two late bogeys left Kirk in yet another playoff – one that he would eventually lose to tournament champion Jim Herman.

Kirk, playing his first season as a full member of the Nationwide Tour, entered the final round tied for the lead with Herman thanks in part to a stunning third-round 65 that was the day's low round by three strokes and was one of only four rounds total in the 60s. Through 15 holes in the final round, Kirk had asserted himself as the man to beat with four birdies against 11 bogeys and a two-shot lead over Herman with just three holes to play. Missed par putts of 8 and 10 feet, respectively, at Nos. 16 and 17, dropped the Woodstock, GA native back into a tie for the lead. After halving the 72nd hole, the two would head off to extra holes, where Herman would notch his first Nationwide Tour title with a 6-foot birdie try on the first playoff hole.

Trevor MurphyRegardless of the playoff outcome, the runner-up finish was a good sign for Kirk after a 2009 featuring just four made cuts in 13 starts on the Nationwide Tour. The finish marked the second playoff loss of his Nationwide Tour career, dating back to a runner-up finish at the 2008 Knoxville Open.

Former UNC Charlotte golfer Trevor Murphy notched the first top-10 of his Nationwide Tour career following rounds of 69-72-75-67—283. The former skier-turned-golfer earned his Tour status via a T78 finish at PGA TOUR Q-School last fall, and then missed the cut in his first start two weeks ago in New Zealand.

eGolf Tour players Jin Park and Steven Jones also tied for 10th at the Moonah Classic. Jones, a native of Australia, was in contention through 36 holes of the event following rounds of 68-67, but struggled on the weekend with rounds of 77-71 and fell back in the pack.

Other eGolf Tour players to make the cut in Australia include Scott Stallings, (T15), Keegan Bradley (T21), Fabian Gomez (T32), Kevin Kisner (T41), Stephen Poole (T44), Jess Daley (T51), Darron Stiles (T58), Scott Brown (T64), Bobby MacWhinnie (74) and Ted Brown (75).

For complete results from the Moonah Classic, please visit the results page on pgatour.com.

• At the PGA TOUR's Northern Trust Open, two-time eGolf Tour winner Steve Marino carded rounds of 70-67-69-68—274 to finish T5, marking his first top-5 finish on TOUR since a playoff loss at last year's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. The former UVA Cavalier entered the final round in a tie for eighth and suffered a slow start, turning at 1-over 36 on the classic Riviera Country Club layout before charging back with a 4-under 32 on the closing nine. Also finishing inside the top 10 was former tour player Jason Bohn, who carded weekend rounds of 67-65 to finish T10. Bohn, who began his final round on the back nine at Riviera, birdied Nos. 15-18 to turn at 4-under before adding three more birdies at Nos. 1, 4 and 6 to get to 7-under on his round. A closing bogey at the uphill par-4 ninth left Bohn with a closing 65 and allowed him to move up 24 spots in his final round. The top-10 was his third in the past year and a half on TOUR. Rounding out the eGolf Tour representation in Southern California was Matt Bettencourt, who carded a final-round 67 to finish T43. For complete results from the Northern Trust Open, please visit the results page on pgatour.com.